Post-Holocaust Pogroms in Hungary and in Poland

CEU eTD Collection Second Reader: Viktor Karady Supervisor: Michael L. Miller Post-Holocaust Pogroms in Hungary and Poland In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Central European University History Department Budapest, Hungary Istvan Pal Adam Master of Arts Submitted to 2009 By CEU eTD Collection instructions may not be made without the written permission of the Author. the of permission written the without made be not may instructions form of a part copiesin such made. copies made suchany Further accordance with must page This librarian. the from obtained be may Details Library. European Central in the part,mayor be and bytheAuthor madeonly in lodged instructions with the accordance given in Copyright of Copiesby with the thesis this Author. text the in any eitherrests full process, Statement of Copyright i CEU eTD Collection Thank you Thank my family and all the help of professors, coordinators and colleagues at CEU. helpedmy work with friendly and professional advice. I alsoneed to thankfor the support of inKunmadaras, special 1900. My thanks go to Michael L.Timár Eszter and Miller who I dedicate this work to the memory of my grandfather, Dezs Acknowledgements ii Ę Kun, who was born in CEU eTD Collection the Kunmadarasthe pogrom inand Miskolc the riots Hungary. and in pogroms and in Poland, Kielce Kraków context of factors the the Ianalyzethese thesis infactors occasionally approximately insimilar pogroms same time. the During resulted the Hungary.although that Iargue backgroundsthe countries of twothe werecertain different, suffered Polandattacks This survivors in byHolocaust violent compares thesis and post-war Abstract iii CEU eTD Collection Bibliography...... 81 ...... 64 5. Conclusion 4. Two Pogroms in Poland...... 52 3. The Two Waves of Turbulence in Miskolc in 1946...... 37 2. Kunmadaras – The Unsuccessful Return...... 21 ...... 8 1. Literature review Introduction...... 1 iii Abstract...... ii ...... Acknowledgements of Table Contents 5.2 The Echo of the Rabbi’s Speech...... 75 5.1 Findings...... 64 4.3 Blaming the Other...... 63 4.2 The Pogrom ...... 58 in Kielce 4.1 Pogrom in Kraków...... 53 3.8 Further Differences in ...... 49 Interpretation 3.7 The Route of the ...... 48 Workers and the Siege 3.6 The Arrests Which Led to the Second ...... 47 Demonstration 3.5 Two Interpretations of the Authorities’ ...... 45 Behavior ...... 43 3.4 Genius Loci 3.3 The Route of the Workers...... 41 3.2 The Echo of a Call for Fight against the Black-marketeers...... 40 3.1 Preconditions ...... 38 2.6 The End...... 35 2.5 The Role of the Police...... 33 2.4 Marching Around the Village...... 30 2.3 The Second Day – The Eggs and the Jews...... 27 2.2 In the Building of the Trade Corporation...... 25 2.1 The First Day: a Trial Which Instigates Anti-Jewish Sentiment...... 22 1.4 Accusations in Practice: Poland ...... 19 after the War 1.3 Ritual Murder and Blood Libel ...... 17 Accusation 1.2 Miskolc...... 15 1.1. Kunmadaras...... 9 5.1.8 The Role of Politicians...... 74 ...... 73 5.1.7 The Market 5.1.6 Role of Authorities...... 71 5.1.5 Economic Threat:...... 71 5.1.4 Rioters in Poland...... 69 5.1.3 Rioters in Kunmadaras...... 67 5.1.2 Rioters in Miskolc...... 66 5.1.1 Blood Libel and Other Accusations...... 64 iv CEU eTD Collection order topreventorder further killings. 1947”, 2 no. 38. 1 Report onthe pogrom of Kunmadaras, Archive of Jewish the Museum Budapest Box no.XXXIII–5–b/4., File days in two later defend from their survivorsthe children Holocaust.the Two of of seriouslythe woundeddied Kielce, andahundredmore wounded by Christian the whoparents believed had they that to July 1946, only forty-four daysafter the in Kunmadaras,pogrom forty lynchedJews were in reported, they had kidnapped himin tousehisorder for blood makingmatzo. As a result, on 4 B Henryk held thenine-year-old Jewsallegedly where the Street, from didevenKunmadaras, theinvestigators find not acellarunder the buildingat 7Planty five-hundred kilometers around Kielce, Poland, only In because of pogrom. the destroyed false. were accusations investigation led cellar to the Kohn,where of Sándor witness the confessed thatthe killgoing make in to intheirchildren acellar to from them. order sausage police The Jews the Kunmadaras that were weretold of the inhabitants lynched, were because Holocaust behind of in On21 events. the most middleMay 1946, the of survivorsHungary, three of the the most background.strikingis However, political accusation the similarity theirrational in changing radical the of attackers, the strata social the brutality, the further similarities: are 1947. There endof till mostly from 1945 of the Hungary, summer the Poland, and Slovakia in in occurred sameperiod the These in anti-Jewish acts Europe. attacks violentEastern ofvarious weresubjects inhabitants Jewish returning the Holocaust the Immediately after Introduction Joanna Michlic, “Polish Jews during and after the Kielce Pogrom: Reports from the Communist Archives Polin: Studies inPolish Jewry à ódz, where the Jews from Kielce had to be transported by in be RedCross transported the Kielce hadto where Jews from the ódz, 1 Unfortunately,by timethat already dozens of lives had been , Vol. 13 (2000), p 253. 2 1 á aszczyk after, as he after, aszczyk CEU eTD Collection Europe. Europe. The city’s name itself Europeans most reminds of pogrom,the andthe inhabitants actof post-war is horrifyingKielce anti-Jewish most scale. The the pogrom largermuch A yearlater, in something Kielce very inhappened,similar but a much more brutal form and internationally well-known place and the pattern was already the same as later, inKielce: wasalready sameaslater, the andplace pattern the well-known internationally destroyed a and synagogue anddesecrated it gained wilderpublicity.happened in This an itespecially brutal,symbolically signaled the beginning of since attacks anti-Jewish themob Kraków incident hadspecial importance. Although it firstwas notthe pogrom, nor even University Press, 2003)p 235. Poles and Jews During theHolocaust and its Aftermath territories. former Germans were these since new residents, were Poles ethnic everywhere in anti-Jewish already the further aggravated Theirexisting which social resulted tensions, return sentiments, even in Western from repatriationmore 1946 the Polish started territories. Jews Sovietof the 100,000 than Poland. Here, both in season. this In KrakówAugust, the pogrom internationalPolishgained attention. On8February Jews and whenperiod murdersbecamefrequent: the anti-Semitic approximately were killed 100 Jews 4 Vol.13 (2000), pp 38-39. 3 of Jews in Poland (Centralny Komitet anti-Jewish as Accordinguse other1945-1946 Central tothe incidents examples. Committee in Kunmadaras pogrom Poland, the and lawin the Miskolc mob Hungary, although I plan to In my thesis I will focus on four post-war anti-Jewish events: the Kielce and Kraków pogrom Anna Cichopek, “The Cracow Pogrom of August 1945,A Narrative Reconstruction” in JoannaMichlic, “Anti-JewishViolence in Poland, 1918-1939 and 1945-1947”, x x x x x the mob lynches the Jews. the lynches mob the rioting start militiamen and policemen soldiers, gathers thebuilding around a crowd already the of is rumor ritual existing murder by generated further this accusation children accused murderJews with attempted in building a community 4 ĩ ydów w Polsce: CK ed. by Joshua D. Zimmerman (New Brunswick: Rutgers 2 ĩ P), the summer of 1945 was the Polin: Studies inPolish Jewry Contested Memories, 3 However, the However, , CEU eTD Collection material aid. In Kraków and in Miskolc too, the marketplace was absolutely essential in essential the marketplacethe and wasabsolutely Kraków in too, material Miskolc In aid. or financial got Jews most Committee, Distribution Joint Jewish American the of support Theeven Holocaustsurvivorsworst. couldbe in seem to a privileged position: thanks tothe 5 boughteggs. or sold they price the of because market atthe attacked first were Jews the Kunmadaras, case of Atleast three out of four pogroms show the signs of food riots. As Péter Apor shows in the rageagainst policeapproval wasrevoked. alleged when the the spontaneous alleged hand,the other approval themost authorities,the andthe of caseshows this the On riots. anti-Jewish four the of out spontaneous least the was it hand, one the On forces. was clearlyby certain induced Miskolc is political herethe aggression a uniquecase,since victimsthe andthe remembrance of this pogrom. memory the over of occurred andcontradictions also tensions the present I accusations. libel Jews of criminal market behavior, an accusation which mingled with ritual murder and blood local village. Women accused in insignificant Jewish this,appeared otherwise aggression put special emphasis on this event, because one of the most exciting questions is Kunmadaras is the place in Hungary, where the cruelestpogrom. post-Holocaust the commemorate pogromalready four plaques Street of 7 Planty building Onthe Planty Street. occurred. I and street main of junction the Itstandsatthe pedestrian Holocaust. worldthe the to to alert Karski, the courier for the London-based Polish government during World WarII, who tried of Jan astatue erected they by recently Not accident, heritage. theiragainst fight visibly Péter Apor,“The Lost Deportations: Kunmadaras 1946” (Budapest: MA Thesis, CEU, 1996), p18. 5 It is It wellknown made thethat of drought 1946 the already terrible famine 3 why the anti- the CEU eTD Collection 12 11 10 9 8 7 314. 6 werekilled. inhabitants Jewish thirty where in Pinsk, one another and murdered, were Jews seventy where Lviv, violence in Thefirst inter-warthe period. included wave,inbetween 1918-1920 in a pogrom of waves three experienced Polish Jewry the contrary, Onthe lifesinceTiszaeszlár. public anti-Jewish aggression Nazis till – of end the 1946, with some exception of the of withdrawal the after werekilled Jews Polish 500-600 leastthe at circumstances In these white terrorfeelings. anti-communist with – did accompanied often was sentiment not anti-Jewish when characterize war, civil the Polish Home Army AK)(Armiafought Krajowa, against newthe was system.a period It of communist monopolization of power started immediately after the war, while the units of infood. selling criminalwas the behavior again basic accusation the here since especially, message, aspecial had here place choice of the that Ibelieve traded. wanted therioters where latter to kill the Jews pogrom. In inBúzaSquare, the victims their Przytyk, later, in June 1936, inlater, in Mi Przytyk,June 1936, riots. etc. servants, civil become could life, in political in army, the higher position in a radically new position. The wartime anti-Jewish legislation was revoked, Jews could earn a democratic political system installed.was Thesurvivors of Holocaustthe found themselves Army, Red the by ended was occupation Nazi the once Hungary, In differed. radically events leastbarein differences. of mind Firstly, twovery important background at political the the David Engel, “Patterns of Anti-JewishViolence in Poland, 1944-1946” Jan T. Gross, Viktor Karády, Viktor See János Varga, “A miskolci népítélet” [The Mob Law of Miskolc] of MobLaw [The népítélet” “A miskolci Varga, SeeJános Ibid., p 35, Ibid., pp 51-52. Michlic, 2000 A p 35, p 44. Gross, 2007p 35. 12 The last wave occurred when, in two separate incidents,firstin in inMarch when, Thelast separate 1936, occurred wave two Although insimilar pogroms occurred post-war Poland andin Hungary, has one to Fear: anti-Semitism in Poland after Auschwitz Túlél Ę k és újrakezd 11 The second wave meant in1930-1933 mostly anti-Jewish student 9 but Jan T. Gross estimates 1,500 victims. 1,500 estimates Gross Jan T. but Ę k [Survivors and Restarters] (Budapest: Múlt ésJöv Ĕ sk Mazowiecki, two Poles died by the arms of by of Mazowiecki, Poles diedPolish arms the sk two 4 (New York: Random House, 2007),pp 22-34. Medvetánc Yad Vashem Sudies Vol. 5, No. 2-3(1986): 293- 6 10 Secondly, in Hungary, Ę , 2002),pp 14-15. 26, (1998). 7 In Poland, the Poland, In 8 CEU eTD Collection children from the Jews. They did noteven think that they could be arrested.” defend people“it policethese the Pál their Drukker to seemed that wanted source, adds: justifyThey from Pelle’s act. andexpected sympathy authorities. the triedtheir cruel to blood on their with stood there clothes Jews children. inhabitants with Christian the The did the what Szolnok of captain police regional the explain to to tried where they headquarters, after thepogrom.found right gatheredKunmadaras local around the therioters He police itself. act anti-Jewish the of nature criminal the minimizes also but victim, the onto violence the for notand the only guiltof responsibility threateningshifts the Jew the Michlic, concept the which Christians, the threatens Jew allegedly returning the threat: the is element constant only The bizarre. and irrational more became it – propaganda andpersecution Nazi the to and –thanks accusation often soused historically the from departed thisaccusation murder. However, ritual find of rumor the againonecan once inKunmadaras Furthermore, higher else Jews inthan wasmuch anywhere around. Kielce dangerous for them either for big cities or for theWest. or cities for big for them either dangerous of the Jewish leaders the Auschwitz. InPoland, in of Austria instead labor camps to deported of them were Communitymost in 1945,since back ofthelocal Jewry arrived amuchhigherpercentage In Kunmadaras, gave the order: neighbors. Jewish their the Jews actviolently against to which Poles entitled “Jewishallegedly became of symbols the threat” should leave small towns that are 161-162. Radom”, and Kielce Jews in and “Poles Penkalla, 14 13 Poles,Stanis Jews. Thesetwo 16 15 Minutes of the Meeting of JewishCommittees of the Kielce Voivodeship, held on Ibid., 14 pp 55-56.May 1945 in Adam János Pelle, János Michlic, 2000 A p 44 15 János Pelle evokes the memories of Pál Drukker, who as a policeman arrived to Az Utolsó Vérvádak 13 [The Last Blood Libel Accusations] (Budapest: Pelikán Kiadó, 1995), pp á aw Wie aw Ğ Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry niak and Jan Bujak became national heroes, and heroes, becamenational niak andJanBujak 5 justifies 14 the attack. According to Joanna to According attack. the Therefore the concentration of the of concentration the Therefore , Vol. 13 (2000), p 243 16 CEU eTD Collection 23 p 211. 1945-1947” in 22 21 20 19 18 17 topic. of the a discussion Poles rejected majority of the that isit understandable war, after the andright during actions anti-Semitic were the self-image tothis threats major the Since history. Polish post-war and wartime the into inquiry only.” andmartyrs heroes of “as acommunity Poland wartime portrayed mythology national Polish the her, to According pogroms. Polish Joanna Michlic more even the disturbingandmisinterpretations explains silence of post-war hisdevoted Kunmadaras. thesis tothe topic of Apor young Ayear in1996,ascholar, Péter later, of riots. analyzes thebackground the pogrom. the of view anti-Semitic mainstream the from precise, detailed descriptionstudies post-Holocaust the werepublished wroteavery pogroms. In1994,Éva about Vörös of the Kunmadaras Apor topic.the Péter events, however, she doesin his instudy published 1986. not step forward question of raisedresponsibility the Varga was still when János It a brave act Jewish events. anti- the about extensively wrote nobody years forty for that surprising not is it country, Miskolc,induced the theviolence andfrom whole communists1948 they sincethe ruled In Hungary, the socialist regime preferred to keep silent about the anti-Jewish events. In with the telling title: “ Michlic,2005 pp 210-214. Joanna Michlic, “The Holocaust and Its Aftermath as Perceived in Poland: Voices of PolishIntellectuals, Péter Apor,“The Lost Deportations: Kunmadaras 1946” (Budapest: MA Thesis, CEU, 1996). János Pelle, János Éva Vörös, “Kunmadaras, Újabb Adatok a Pogrom Történetéhez”, aPogrom Adatok Újabb “Kunmadaras, Vörös, Éva Apor,1996 p 2. Varga, 1986 pp 310-311. Az Utolsó Vérvádak The Jews Are Coming Back, 18 Az utolsóvérvádak” sees a “boom” in the fact that after the change of regime three or more change or afterof the fact three seesregime that in a “boom” the [The Last Blood Libel Accusations] (Budapest: Pelikán Kiadó, 1995). 17 Interestingly, till this day this is the best historical work on work historical best the is this day this till Interestingly, ed. David Bankier(Jerusalem: Yad Vashem-Berghahn Books 2005), 20 (The Last Blood Libel Accusations) in which he in which Accusations) Libel Blood Last (The 21 6 22 This self-image does not accept any critical accept not does Thisself-image 23 Others tried to depict, for example, the 19 In Pelle1995 János published abook Múlt Jöv és Ę , Vol. 7,No.4(1994). CEU eTD Collection Kraków and Topol’ 27 2007). 26 25 Whittlesey House, 1948). commentaries of the pogroms, Jewish community minutes, and personal memoirs. I add I memoirs. personal and minutes, community Jewish pogroms, the of commentaries and newspaperarticles related the topic, the on literature andEnglish Hungarian places, where haveindividuals had to avirtual map of housesand and Jewish the organizations, ingeneral Jewsthe that argue also I events. the of memory the and usedaftermath the rioters, the of stratification to be present. social the inhabitants, female the of role intense the such as: riots, of the elements social In orderlocal the deal with to important isalso It accusations. share these orto attack the approve to find answers,irrationalmost blood libel murderand ritual accusations until authoritiesthe seemed to the by be driven themselves let not did attackers the that I show to plan analyzeespecially I motives. the view of existing rioters’ will acloser the believeallow approach thispogroms. Ithat comparative especially themotives, the circumstances, the reactions and the commemorations of these and Hungarian Post-Holocaust Pogroms. The goal of this thesisis fillto this gap by analyzing in Polish differences or similarities the about analysis detailed no is there now until Therefore, events. anti-Jewish European Eastern post-war of Pogroms inPogroms Krakówand Topol’ Cichopek uses Gross’ theory when she compares a Polish and a Slovakian case: “Property and existed. would admitin Polish haveto the post-war that society intense extremely anti-Semitism Polish historians could not get rid off the theory of external conspiracy, because then they 24 Kielce pogrom as an organizedevent by NKVD.the 2009). Anna Cichopek, A Case forComparative Perspective in Polish-JewishHistory: Property and Pogroms in Andrzej Packowski, “Raporty o Pogromie” [Reports about the pogrom], the about [Reports o Pogromie” “Raporty Packowski, Andrzej See for example: Stanis example: Seefor See especially: Jan T. Gross, Jan especially: See 25 Gross argues that reclaim of the confiscated property was of importance. of was property the confiscated of reclaim arguesthat Gross þ any any 1945,in á aw Miko aw Fear: anti-Semitism in Poland afterAuschwitz http://icj.huji.ac.il/conference/papers/Anna%20Cichopek.pdf á ajczyk, þ any inany 1945.” Rape ofPoland: Pattern of Soviet Aggression 7 27 This is basically the only comparative study theonly comparative is basically This 24 According Andrzej to Paczkowski, Puls Vol.50 No.3 (1991): p103. (New Random House,York: , (New York: (accesd 21April 26 Anna CEU eTD Collection preconditions, but also the trials and contemporary commemoration of the victims. with the with As Iclose thesis the of aresultwork behindthe theresearch motives murders. the investigate of the riots. In In closer view of the cruelest Hungarian post-Holocaust pogrom. Since the results of theirengaged with topic.writethe Overall they not hundred even did two pagesabout subject. the works often contradict inyears. werepublished studies noeachmore recentthe AsIcounted, fourthan scholars were other, I have found many see how is to already,ititenough is explored this subject me that warned fellow-scholars worth having a work WheninKunmadaras. Istarted to on pogrom withthe appeared some pogrom, this important works on the post-war Polish pogroms and theirfindings. First and foremost Ifocus libel murderdescription blood aboutthe list accusations.Afterthis most and ritual the I In thispart Ireview historical the aboutthe studies Hungarian pogroms andIgivebasic some review 1. Literature phenomenon in In Europe. Eastern Iwill and libelblood agrowingaccusation murderliterature, outline the ritual the as define My has thefollowingthesis In order: wouldwork beunfinished. my of memory photos these andphotos importantplaces,because without tombs plaques, Chapter 3 Conclusion Ifocus on the first and second wave of turbulences in Miskolc, and the aftermath Chapter 4 which is devoted is which devoted comparison,to the including not only motivesthe and I summarize the two Polish pogroms Kraków– andKielce – and Chapter 2 Chapter 1 I give a description of the Kunmadaras events. Kunmadaras the of a description Igive 8 I give a review of the already existing CEU eTD Collection Czechoslovakia in 1945. December Czechoslovakia from came Tóth informsthat page Ötvös first reader the Already the on Takács. and Ferenc pass inhabitants ofKunmadaras and outsiders: responsibility the to Zsigmond tries Tóth to the loves obviously priest, good a as Ötvös, general, In Tóth. Zsigmond of role is the events days’ two the between connection only The events. are separate day previous the trial Nagy’s hisyears. In interpretation –the pogrom – unlike Vörös and the turbulence around János lived inappointment story –perhapswrote the Kunmadaras decades many of pogrom the over publishing andtheunidentified indicates oral sources Ötvös – that whoafter his ecclesiastic 30 Vol.36,No. 2(1990): pp81-93. 29 28 László inÖtvös’ study was published fall1990, right after the Communism. of sentiments. anti-Jewish of expression that the pogrom was more a cruel 2008 yetKunmadaras, published again article in an about he hiswhich summarizes argument episode of the dissolution of while he switches emphasisthe a libelon blood the accusation. Apor, Péter besidetraditional his in thesis, village than thecontrast, in Pelle’s book mainstreamthe anti-Semitic view findingof pogromwithout the themotivesbehind. In although completes itas a source, uses uncritically Ötvös’ in wroteherreport whichshe study Vörös descriptive with the People’s Éva later, years Four pogrom. the of analysis Tribunal’s questionable sometimes scholarly however, sentence. First in priest Calvinistthe Ötvös, Kunmadaras1990, László of publishedimportant, an Ötvös and Vörös present only1.1. Kunmadaras Ibid., p 81. ofMadaras], movement anti-Semitic [The megmozdulás” antiszemita “A madarasi Ötvös, László Pelle,1995. 28 a whole chapter analyzes the background of the Kunmadaras riot, Kunmadaras the of analyzes thebackground awhole chapter 30 Ötvös also depicts Ferenc Takács, the secretary of the 9 29 The time of Jászkunság CEU eTD Collection Inhabitant Changes in Kunmadaras] (Szolnok: Kunmadaras Polgármesteri Hivatal, 1995), p 20. that “therebehind thepogrom.that provocation” wasacounter-Hungarian about work changes the inof Kunmadaras,in publishedhepopulation already states 1995, inhis fiveyears later, However, call agent. an justheZsigmond not Tóth “informer”, as does 36 35 34 33 32 31 from trial. story disappeared the firstday the the future of till he which and a dance!”,after short dramatic “Let`s he shouted allegedly morning, where next in the market the at Slovakian the saw who informers, his of one to refers Ötvös scene: there, maybe the Jews are going to be beaten up.” that everybody should be at the market on the next day, because something is going to happen also added, immediately guard…He the heguard him.’ organized There upon, to so wehave Nagy and his accusers, stated: ‘As I know, the Jews want to kidnap János Nagy from his flat, into Ötvös,“Zsigmond thenick Tóth whentime, of thesituation is János between tensed action.” into swing Ötvös explains to his readerstatement about Jews the inSlovakia, whowere hanged becauseof kidnapping children, Tóth’s timing: “Zsigmondsuspicious Tóth felthis to he refers thatrole:Hungarians, innocent the thecorrupt to came who “Not agent timeforeign is a Tóth byhad accidentcome to Tóth is Ötvösin the overestimatescrowd.” the role of these two men.communists. Although he never the Jánosthan Nagy attacked more aggressively who careerist, party, as communist declares that Zsigmond László Ötvös, László Ibid., p 84. Ibid., p 83. Ibid., p 82. Ibid., p 82. Ibid., p 89. 31 Redemptios Emlékek és Lakossági Változások Kunmadarason 33 Later, in the evening in the building of the Trade Corporation, according Corporation, Trade the of building in the evening inthe Later, 10 34 The most unlikely is Zsigmond last Tóth’s 32 Similarly,before quoting Tóth’s 35 [Redemptical Memories and Memories [Redemptical Ötvös does not name his name not does Ötvös 36 local CEU eTD Collection according to ÉvaVörös,at “someaccording this to Karcag”from point, people leastAt responsibility. outsider’s the again appears Here, once path. thecrowd’s obstructed by stopped his which police, were the accompany to hearing, totheirwanted teacher villagers, who The Nagy. caseof the to alonger description Shedevotes andimportance. trial of the teacher, János Nagy, till the end of the next days’ pogrom, everything has its place away aggression” the persons)kept sixty (approximately Jews the of of majority the WhenJewry hemotive“the fiber behindaggression.as apossible mob’s moral the addsthat mentionfeels it to worthy offendingVas’ viewsaboutthe István cultural superiority the of and rioters the policemen the which led lynching ofFerenc to the Kuti. 42 41 40 39 38 37 day, market onceatthe beginning spreadbyZsigmondas arumor twice of Tóth, the and kidnappedfrom Apart fivethem. Vörös this, mentions times libel blood the accusation: twice from perhaps theJews children mysteriously news: town, spread the twodisappeared the theevents. of detailed description most gives the Éva Vörös basically divides the Kunmadaras Jewry intogood Jews and bad Jews. general. he instead himself tothe Kunmadaras tries case; todeny in of reliability accusations the the limit not topic. Hedoes the on literature existing the disregards he completely however, libel paragraph blood the accusation, about any ashort success.Hewrites without real former inhabitants. pogrom, based the of acts violent all lists on systematically he the when part the is reportstudy Ötvös’s of highlight The of the People’s Supreme Court and on the interviews with the Ibid., p 71. Vörös, 1994 pp 69-80. Ibid., p 92. Ibid., p 90. Ibid., p 88. Ötvös,1990 pp 84-88. 38 Writing about the role of the police, he does not mention the cooperation between mentioncooperation not the hedoes police, the roleof the Writing about 37 After this main part of his text, Ötvös engages After Ötvös his of main this in text, part outliningthe motives 11 41 In her study from the planned 42 joined the crowd. They 39 Unfortunately, Ötvös 40 , he , CEU eTD Collection considers the theory of Mária Schmidt, according to which accordingto Máriaagentwas a theory the considers Zsigmond Tóth secret of Schmidt, simply wanted to remove the popular teacher from his position. who Ferenc Takács, idea of the was trial this that upatheory Hesets Tribunal. People’s the of verdict the notdeserve Nagydid János him, to According by andfueled vengeance. strict asverdicts often too their Pelle sees judgesfrom choose survivors. Jewish the were happy to who communists, the will of the represented tribunals these that hedeclares when reference Tribunal. People`s the of character Jewish the duvet.” thereclaimed of because suffer to during beating the of Rosenbergs,whenthe one of stated “these rioters the that youhits have remark cutting the notes Pelle valuables. confiscated the for claims Jewish the of importance 47 46 45 44 43 approval. messageof in hadthe situations certain police with rioters the János Pelle lists the reasons of policemen. the of negligence and the pandering the and sentiments pogrom,Jewish such as first anti- and of anti-Semitic the manifestations the characteristics: two emphasizes constantly of all that the cooperationpolitical overthetrial tensions János Nagy.In herof descriptive andlinear study she of the the of line the following events unfolds the Sherather black-marketeers. against the campaign Kunmadaras, and she doestheir not even confiscatedmention for theJewish food claims or of shortage such asthe problems, economic general Hungarian the anti-Jewish wealth. side village, she of onlyconsiders in although growingthe economic politicaland the tension of an influential She fails politicaland once at the home of the Neulanders. However, Vörös still describes the pogrom as a resultto specifyduring also pogrom. the for The rioters looked missing children Gyulaat home Rosinger`s these problems in the economic reality of Pelle, 1995 pp 154-155. Pelle,1995 p 154. Pelle, 1995 p 153,p 161. Pelle,1995 p 159. Ibid., p 71. 45 Out of fourthe authors Pelle emphasizes the most 12 46 Unfortunately he does not indicate any indicate not he Unfortunately does 47 Interestingly, Pelle seriously Pelle Interestingly, 43 44 He also sees special CEU eTD Collection János Nagy. belongedmajority is political tothe right by demonstrated clearly forfight longthe lasting to the leftist politicalThe only problem with hisis reasoning inhabitants hardly that Kunmadaras any belongedof parties. Most of them supported the Peasants Party. The fact that the Szabad Nép However, Apor, in his thesis,while focusing on the Communist Party daily, the articles theof hang“we lawyer!” aregoing to shouting: Jewish while street the on demonstrated peasants from Kunmadaras, kilometers twelve Karcag,only itself proves anti-Jewish inlibel thepresenceaccusation andin blood the region Moreover, of events. village the the sentiment. before” in Kunmadaras anti-Semitism One canexperienced not had they “that addtestified who witnesses, toJewish The charges. this the of themselves that in early 1946, are biased. Thedefendants’ toclear undoubtedly Thesegoal only be could excerpts for example in from by andmadeexcerpts during statements confessions followed the trial which the riot. 51 50 49 48 hatred exist.”andof long-lasting did Jews the not in “The Kunmadaras. launched anti-Semitism in pogrom was regards without permanentthat Apor deniesPéter by all no previousthe wasvirtually studies statinganti-Semitism that there the Tsar. Unfortunately,here, once again, Pelle’s text lacks reference. of NKVD,already Sovietthe who inorganizinggained experience intheempire pogroms of Kunmadaras, 1946] 53 52 Péter Kertész, “Letter” Kertész, Péter Ibid., p 8. Apor,1996 p 8. Pelle,1995 p 158. Peter Apor, “A népi demokrácia építése: Kunmadaras, 1946” [The Building of the People's Democracy: People's of the Building [The 1946” Kunmadaras, építése: demokrácia “A népi Apor, Peter Ibid., p 8. , finds thecampaign black-marketeersthe thereal against of trigger pogrom.the 53 Being on rightthe side of politicalthe scale doesnotautomatically make Századok Jászkunsá Vol. 132, No. 6 (June 1998): p 605. g Vol. 9, No. 6 (December1994): p 8. 50 could be also affected by the shock of tragic the of shock by the affected bealso could 13 51 49 However, Apor only thissupports theory 48 52 CEU eTD Collection crystallized his convincing theory of the pogrom. He sees the riotsriot.” in the contextpeople, nor can he even reveal the motives of their violence orhow they gave reasons for the of a “thefind historian cannot the reasonsin defendants’storiesthe why they assaulted other event. an anti-Semitic of false narrative the itself created Tribunal People’s the is that conclusion claimedhe hadspecified that the goal meetingof the Jew-baiting.” asthe proposed however day, next the on market the at be to them upon called had Tóth that “ of pogrom. the character anti-Semitic the diminish Apor, atsome pointof his thesis findsitimpossible toanswer the question campaign. political communist the to answer an as only pogrom seesthe theory which the contradict riot the villagers during by the frequently repeated policy of policy leftindispensably of the resulted ina pogrom.” etc. nose, lips, thick thick crooked characteristics: Jewish of illustration shared commonly with the black-marketeers publicenemies,the the depicted and caricatures thebanners, Theposters, sentiments. fuelled anti-Jewish had openly economy in order to pave the way for the introduction of the new national currency, the forint, Hungarian the of stabilization the targeted which campaign, political the that is right Apor in Kunmadaras. read newspaper (July-August,2008) p 95. 58 57 56 55 54 however, resistant of any leftist propaganda; Peter Apor,“A kunmadarasi pogrom, 1946” [The Pogrom of Kunmadaras, 1946], Ibid., p 15. Ibid., p 9. Ibid., p 8. Apor, 1996: pp 6-7. 56 58 In certain itsentences seems thatApor’s is goal –insteadfinding of the reasons – to Péter Apor in his most recent article in the Hungarian historical historical periodical Hungarian inthe in Apor article his most recent Péter Szabad Nép 14 54 According toApor,“the irresponsible 55 Relatively few However, the anti-Jewish expressions supposedly most the was not widely defendants spoke about spoke defendants Rubicon why Vol. 19, No. 7-8 almost nobody almost . As he . writes, 57 His final Rubicon CEU eTD Collection 61 60 59 eggsata price, andbuying upthe price.triple an bysellingmeatatexorbitant community of the principles breachedthe Jews adds thatthe traditional village, where the obstructers of the will of the community havebe to punished. He children of Christians. of children the kill allegedly who Jews the about accusation libel blood traditional the evoked meat had pogrom pogrom was obviously more complex than one can grasp through only the However, Kunmadaras. at waspresent anti-Semitism that demonstrates itself accusation libel since blood the riot, of the character anti-Jewish far, the when he too denies goes police officer managed to escape. managedpolice to officer other the while descent, Jewish with policeman the attacked workers the later Similarly, népítélet” (TheMob in published Law of Miskolc) As has beenmentioned in already introduction,the Varga’s János “Amiskolci study entitled 1.2 Miskolc authors’ theory. the rioters. the in of selection the characteristic sees theanti-Jewish who Bibó, heagreeswith István rather asapogrom, defineviolence inMiskolc not the were Vargadoes involved. deeply workers the and communists the in which riot anti-Semitic an unfold to enough brave was Varga that fact novelty is real the the Here is very descriptive. this also article, breaking every ground phenomenon. However, till today, this is the most important work on the subject. As each and Varga, 1986 p 310. Apor,2008 p 95. Ibid., p 18. 61 They attacked the Jewish black-marketeers but they let the non-Jew escape. non-Jew the let butthey black-marketeers Jewish the Theyattacked 60 Apor is certainly right when he re-contextualizes the events, but he but events, the he re-contextualizes when right is certainly Apor 15 59 According to him, the mere fact that the Jews him, the merefact that to According the Medvetánc , in 1986wasan , early one of of fourthe CEU eTD Collection 68 67 1995). 66 65 64 63 83. victims and the lord lieutenant of victims of lieutenant István theMiskolc, and lordOszip. Kende not only unfolds political,the but personal also the antagonism inbetween Miskolcthe 62 Szabó. by Róbertbook is the pogrom Miskolc the about secondary source important An name hisfamily from Fogarasi.and intoFrankl policeman the changed Frankl, Sámuel was name His Jewish. was father his only protestant, was himself Fogarasi and provides informationpersonal the lynchedabout him, policeman. According to Artúr understand details story possible the to Kende into pogrom.of Afterwards, Miskolc the goes forint.” the of enemies the exterminate “We promised: Party, Smallholders the shows that not only the communists, he mostly Instead Jews. the campaign the targeted stress thefactthat not healthough does but Ferenc Nagy, the prime and currency-worseners, black-marketeers the deals against campaign He also the with minister, who belonged to newspapers onthetopic. Miskolc contemporary byanalyzingthe about Tamás writes Kende could not direct the aggressive demonstration theworkers. of direct aggressivedemonstration the not could feelings, sincethey instigate more anti-Jewish and dangerous itto risky was too realized that thinks that the riot of the forge workers was the moment when the Hungarian communists of the two arrested black-marketeers. arrested of two the it Szabó, according is to very Miskolclikely and the leaked route the schedule authorities that lynching wasnot planned. Ibid., p 137. Ibid., p 136. Ibid., p 79. Ibid., p 76. Ibid., p 74. Tamás Kende, “Lincselés el “Lincselés Kende, Tamás Róbert Szabó, Róbert A kommunista pártésazsidóság Ę tt és után” [Before and after Lynching] after and [Before után” és tt 68 They wanted them to meet the demonstrators, but their but demonstrators, the meet to them wanted They [The Communist Party the Jewry]and (Budapest:Windsor, 16 64 Dimenziók Only with this information it is it information this with Only 67 Although there is no evidence, no is there Although , Vol.9, No.pp 74- 1-2(1993): 65 63 However, 66 He 62 CEU eTD Collection Dundes (Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1991), p 7. swore an oath of hostility towards the Greeks. him Greek, fattened slewhimin up, and acertain ritual. Whilesacrificinghis body, Jews the accusation. inPosidonius thattheJews First, B. C.E. 2ndthe century reported kidnappeda ancient an is murder ritual The is. accusation murder ritual or libel blood a traditional what defenseless children maketo matzo or maketo sausage, at this pointit seems worth clarifying of killing neighbors Jewish accusedtheir often of pogroms the perpetrators Since the Accusation Libel and Blood Murder 1.3 Ritual Christians. kill Jews who about of prejudices traditional the confirmation the see inhis they because cruelty blood libel attack in “constructed the Jewishthe whichtheworkers policeman, theory” is entitled hisbook Since movement. workers’ makeisto libel hisattempt ablood of and riotcase out mixturethe a food of atraditional pogrom in Kunmadaras. “Let’sparallelism Ötvös’Zsigmond who with Tóth, allegedly before shouted dance” the fact acruel Jewish custom that was repeated every year. In the Middle Ages, the ritual murder B.C. E.,not only confirmed this accusation,but added that this particular ritual murder was in belynched. hesent to whom Jews, fun!”“have tothe as hewishedto by isPelle, quoted moment, necessary the before leave not their detainees did station the that ensured who policeman, the a very Finally, cooperation. to precise police moved according lordlieutenant a conspiracy inof Miskolc, workers and the which the theSoviets, theory, 72 71 70 69 Ern of death the for Police Political so-called the blames Pelle János Gavin Langmuir, “Thomas of Monmouth. Detector of Ritual Murder”, in Pelle,1995 p 232. Ötvös, 1990p72. Pelle, 1995 pp 215-217. 71 70 However, the most interesting part of Pelle’s chapter about Miskolc 17 72 Apion Apion of Alexandira,born between 20 and 30 The LastBloodLibelAccusations The The Blood Libel Legend Ę 69 Jungreisz. Pelle sets up sets Pelle Jungreisz. Itis easy realizeto the , hesetsup ed. by Alan CEU eTD Collection 80 1990), Chapter 9. 79 78 77 277. ritual. Eucharist the question to sense is no there then blood, their for children faith. of anarticle as of transubstantiation doctrine for the legislated Council Lateran Fourth the parallel in in 13 ritual Eucharist of the with Christianity spreading the the As many scholars seeit, ritual murderthe libel blood and in appeared in accusations Europe were acquitted through country.the of anti-Jewish spread violence all charges, international Although in defendants endthe The 1882-83trial attention. the gained ensuing girl before Passover. right fourteen-year-oldHungary, servant disappeared 1882, a where 76 75 depicting the Jews as well with the habit of eating flesh and, most importantly using blood for wanted torelieve Christians conscience by the contrary, AlanDundesthinks that guilty their transubstantiation. ritualthe murder,which he as explicitly names doubts the over doctrinethe of of charges the for motive Christian inner an of necessity the claim who historians influential wafer is the body of Christ and the wine is his blood. Gavin Langmuir is one of those for help. so manylibelbroughtin blood the that Polishhadto the Pope accusations 1758 Jews toturn Jewsof myth.inthe wereexecutedbecause Bazinnumerous lower clergy, libel legend blood Hungary. the arrived to In and1494 inNagyszombat, in 1529 74 73 accusations. series of long in a first the was William twelve-year-old the in late, 12 the accusation appeared relatively Biale, 2007 p 112. See especially: Gavin Langmuir, Gavin Seeespecially: Rubin1999 p 29. Ibid. Jacob Katz, Ibid. Tamás Kende, Tamás Langmuir, 1991 p 7. 78 The legislation was needed because many Christians found it hard to believethe it to that hard found many Christians neededbecause was Thelegislation 75 However, one of the most important blood libel cases occurred in Tiszaeszlár, in in Tiszaeszlár, occurred cases libel blood important most the of one However, From Prejudice to Destruction: Anti-Semitism 1700-1933 Vérvád 79 As he argues, once it is demonstrated that the Jews murderChristian Jews the that is it demonstrated Asheargues,once [Blood Libel] (Budapest: Osiris,1995), p42. Toward adefinition of Antisemitism th 18 century, in Norwich, England. The murder of (Berkley: University of California Press, (Cambridge: Harvard, 1980), pp 276- 74 In Poland, the 18 th century. In 1215 century.In 73 77 Spreadby the 80 th century On the 76 CEU eTD Collection 82 81 in time. coincide to have Passover Jewish the and Week Holy Christian be hadeventhe of Thirdly, perceivedblasphemous act. murder, Purim to asa strange, the celebration the Jewish Secondly, as enemies. theJewsareperceived First, legend.libel blood Cecil stages in Accordingmurder there aredifferent growing to of the ritual or the Roth, “projective inversion.” while the process in which the Christians passing their feeling of guilt to thecannibalism”, patent of Jews“an act as Jesus of body the of he partaking Hecalls the matzo. making calls the 84 83 Rzeszów. in appeared murderaccusation aritual June 1945 12 Gross, asearly as on According to In murder WorldWar II,thePoland, after ritual accusation spread thearound country. War the after Poland in Practice: 1.4 Accusations survivors.Holocaust guiltlooting Jews over the into houses accusationsof deported returning against the feeling of their project could Hungarians mechanism and Poles the similar avery 1945 with in intocouldChrist Jews, an sacramentthe of the be Eucharist in accusation against projected Jews. As in the Middle Ages the feeling of guiltover consuming the transformed body of attackagainstmayatypical tothe serve murder aspretexts the ritual whichonly accusations, theseare therefore in from Passover, time depart accusations post-Holocaust of the most less However, fits criteria. these or more accusation Kunmadaras casesonly the four post-war flats. Somewhat later, the accusation appeared in Przemy appeared accusation the later, Somewhat flats. Dundes, 1991 pp 354-357. Cichopek,2003 p 222. Gross, 2007p 73. Cecil Roth, 83 Jews were arrested, passerbys threw stones at them and later robbed the Jewish the robbed later and atthem stones threw passerbys arrested, Jewswere The Ritual Murder Libel and the Jew 81 (London: Woburn Press,1934) pp 520-526. 19 Ğ l 84 and inJune Kraków too. 82 Out of the analyzed the of Out CEU eTD Collection took advantage of Nazi policies against their Jewish neighbors. Jewish advantage againsttheir ofNazipolicies took but they Nazi the occupiers Poles hated The Jewish relations. Polish of wartime continuity of Jews was so widespread. Gross also sees in post-warthe treatment of the Jewish minority a fromwhat Jewish formerly the is that property inwhy involvementthe murdering postwar the Gross. maintained by – is them against attacks for violent the wealth a major reason confiscated the Kraków and Topol’ in the assets Jewish-owned formerly losing offear theimportance emphasizes Cichopek women accused the Jewish of doctor poisoning their children. school. They aCatholic of attackednationalization the against protested women sixty pogrom, a Kraków the doctor,after Karol Berger, who vaccinated the pupils in the school. The Kraków Topol’and 87 86 85 wealth.” Jewish of redistribution the of history microeconomic villagehas own duringwidespread yearsof theits five “each contentious war that a make matzo lootingcases properties. abuse and mortal of Jewish physical – only desecration the itsof but synagogue includingalso apogrom, humiliating and –in three Starting moment from this unfolds Cichopek story the of a community haswhich suffernot to killa Christian intention it.Jewish woman toabductchildinorder was accused of a Cichopek quotes Kraków police recorded on 27 June report 1945,in which suspected the writes about the case of Topol’ caseof the about writes 91 90 89 88 2009). Anna Cichopek, A Case forComparative Perspective in Polish-JewishHistory: Property Ibid., ppand 232-233.Pogroms in Ibid., p 224. Ibid., p 260. Ibid., p 248. Gross 2007. Ibid., p 6. 89 He also names the phenomenon of blaming the Jews for killing Christian children to pretext þ ani in1945, þ any The any riots. theory – which sees in Holocaustthe survivals’ claim over . Accordinghim, to looting of the property inJewish Poland wasso http://icj.huji.ac.il/conference/papers/Anna%20Cichopek.pdf þ any. 87 In this small place in Czechoslovakia, forty-four days 20 88 86 90 In her other work, Cichopek work, other her In 91 It was well known who got In this sense the post-war (accesd 21April 85 CEU eTD Collection perceptions of pogroms. the of perceptions motives finding and the rioters’ possible amongitself the similarities the of predicts in blood the libel differences, murderand ritual whichfact time same appear accusation the respect to the tradition interactionsof between the Jews and the Gentiles. However, despite all with differences have also they but countries, two in the different is situation political war itReading literature, historical Polishbecomesthe andHungarian not only clear that post- the system. communist new the of arrests and murders the and war civil of state the by maintained further was insecurity which of adeepsense warcreated of experience the that adds war.She during the because irrational society the to cruelty was exposed and misuse complete of human values pogroms. She Polesthe thatbelieve thinks to were willing inthemedieval myth old only anti-Jewish tocreate in accusations frequencymurder attempts extremethe the about ritual of writing while experience wartime the to refers also Michlic, Joanna scholar, Polish Another of Polish society after the war allowed for the murdering of Jews.” 94 93 92 countryside Hungarian the of inhabitants Jewish the of majority the while Strasshof, to Nazis by were deported since mostthe lucky, of them Kunmadaras wasrelatively The of Jewry 2. Kunmadaras – TheUnsuccessful Return acquiredincontinuation an of attitude thewaryears. pogroms were the last part of the Holocaust, and the post-war anti-Semitism simply meant the Michlic, 2000 A p 56. Ibid., p 160. Ibid., p 246. 94 21 92 As Gross states: “the moral economy moral “the states: As Gross 93 CEU eTD Collection 99 98 97 War] (Budapest, Európa Kiadó,1972), pp 283-285. 96 95 Holocaust. deportation.the backnever 121of homeland tothe them,survived, although camethe after during 175of died from Kunmadaras. them village, 371Jewsweredeported chronicler of the survive had lessLászlómuch priestthe inAuschwitz. chance to According to Ötvös, andthe support was manifestedsupport in minimuma demonstration of accompany300 people, whotried to Nagy was apopular person,whohad been sinceteaching 1927in Kunmadaras. Tribunal, from protest decision strong whose evoked ofKunmadaras. inhabitants the János Hungarian Women N Hungarian (Magyar Alliance of Democratic the to wife turned his while parties, local political help of the the the German military support actions. Nazi “leventes” in to young– to local – accused order Germany boys so-called the of driving Nagy,in 1944, publiclyurgedfurther fightingagainst theSoviets. Furthermore, he was neighboring town,thetension Karcag, escalated inKunmadaras on Monday, 20May 1946. day before, with trialthe popularthe of János Nagy. teacher, planned His hearingin the pogrom happened,on 21 May 1946. However, all scholars note hadbeen survivors backThe inyear, already almostHolocaust for village the a whenthe Sentiment Anti-Jewish Instigates Which a Trial Day: First 2.1 The did not returnfrom captivity before spring the 1946. of that 112 soldiers from Kunmadaras also died in the war. Moreover, many of the war prisoners can one add To have wholeyear. picture, the of nextthe events tragic the after village the left Ötvös, 1990p91. p 70. 1994 Vörös, Vörös, 1994 pp 70-72., Ötvös, 1990pp 81-83., Pelle, 1995 pp 154-156., Apor,1996 pp 10-15. Péter Gosztonyi, Ötvös, 1995p20. 95 The rest, 75 Jews returned to Kunmadaras in 1945, however, almost all of them A Magyar honvédség a második világháborúban Ę k Demokratikus Szövetsége) for Thevillagers’s assistance. k Demokratikus Szövetsége) 98 At first stage, he was sentenced by the People’s 22 96 [The Hungarian Army in the Second World Second the in Army Hungarian [The 97 that the events started on the on started events the that 99 He asked for CEU eTD Collection 106 105 Whittlesey House, 1948). from outside the community who maliciously infused the ill-will into their ordinary life. ordinary their into ill-will the infused maliciously who community the outside from typical of every modern blood libel case: after the events the testimonies try findto somebody Jews. hanged those where the mob too, in Slovakia before only had happened Slovakiahave declaredthat Jews couldchildren, the which kidnapped rumorthe mysteriously of disappeared children,while animmigrant Zsigmond Tóth, from report, unknownfrom AsKarcag spread Kunmadaras. andÉva Vörös people László Ötvös sentiments first appearedduring the most importantly,events, from anti-Jewish when moment the is This trial. the at be present could who villagers of number maximum about possible the negotiations started waitandlong wasforced to crowd Here the town. the of border the stopped march at the authorities, who Karcag the Kunmadaras from phoned unknown person 104 103 102 101 100 accusations. the neighbor, the wife of the tailor Becskereki, this otherwise kind and helpful woman believed in matzo. the to blood need Jews the that about talk to started already had people Kunmadaras, the cameto from Kunmadaras, Éva andLászló Asboth Farkas. of Quittner them when remember, spring deny this attempt to passing the responsibility, it was enough to meet two Jewish survivors atmosphere. hostile public the of because Nagy had release in to Kunmadaras, before, wherethecourt had previousthe trial on day done the defendant to his second trial to Karcag. Ibid. Interview by the author, 22 May 2009, Budapest. Vörös, 1994 p 71, Ötvös 1990p 82. Ötvös 1990p 82. Apor,1996 p 13. p 70. 1994 Vörös, See forexample: Stanis 105 Éva recalls her grandmother’s deep shock when she realized that even theireven that realized she when shock deep her grandmother’s Évarecalls 106 á aw Miko 102 á ajczyk, Rape of Poland: Pattern of Soviet Aggression 100 23 They wanted to defend their teacher, as they 101 The crowd was already on its way when an 103 This practice appeared very appeared This practice outside (New York: the inhabitants of 104 To CEU eTD Collection phoned from Karcag,from phoned it to Kunmadaras was only because of the took away those kids, as it happened in Slovakia too. There, the people hanged those Jews.” Jews surely states: the Tóth Karcag, from children thattwo disappeared the rumor digests beforeKarcag which crowd, stopped when the haveplenty Or, anything.” wedon’t while land livingin“The hestates: atthe quoteshim of Jewsare theswore Tóth Jews. Ötvös when 108 107 Here they were forced no sentiment. thispopulation of sign Kunmadarasanti-Jewish was andpoint upto of there to wait, and the general of the four percent approximately ofKarcagincluded at the border Thecrowd events. opinion was that only of the be point aturning appeared to János Nagy’ssupporters demonstration However,of the the 1. The immigrant Zsigmond Tóth in1946(Képes Figyel behavior.” “he exercised an influence on the similar andbut “paid not only hadconversationstoo” the locals, with drinks reports that Tóth them young boys. They paid attention to hissuspects anti-Jewish thatÖtvös thereoverestimates isthe rolea of deviousZsigmond Tóth, who, incausality his story acts as a secret behindagent. He Tóth’s trivial acts. For example, Ötvös Ibid., p 82. Örvös, 1990p 82. 107 Thebehaviorin anti-Jewishmeant hiscase sources underline all -what –that 24 Ę 8 July1946) Jews that the people that the not could Jews could have 108 CEU eTD Collection decided to write a petition to people the the theTradeCorporation, where of building to the communist the accompanied Minister of Justice to acquitwere called onby disarm mob the him.to not only fulfilled They butthis demand, János Nagy of all charges. In with his attackers hethreatening the gun.Although hurt didnot anybody, policemen three conspiracy 114 113 112 111 110 109 the of “henchmen wife his and him called They trial. Nagy’s of witness main the Party, Communist the of secretary Takács, met Ferenc wayhome, their Nagy,on of János supporters Some Corporation Trade the of Building the 2.2 In backturned toKunmadaras. further. irritated even them shots andthese were very upset, from Kunmadaras in people The policeair. the but shot Karcag,enter to villagers tried notes the that Apor lethim alone. did not Péter go sincethecrowd court, at the present atmosphere.” anti-Jewish the maintained “further Takács Gergely Ötvös, to According Party. Smallholders local leader of the the Takács, Gergely villageand the priestof Party, the Peasants trial. in the part take speeches of various local prominent persons, such as Dr. Dezs asDr. such persons, prominent local various of speeches stirring the to listened they Additionally villagers. the among circulated further accusation they obstructed the will of the community. Apor,1996 p 15. p 71. 1994 Vörös, Apor,1996 p 13. Ötvös, 1990p82. Apor,1996 p 14. p 71. 1994 Vörös, Jewish 114 111 – the crowd already turned against the Jews. Ferenc Takács managed to escape, to Ferenc Takácsmanaged Jews. againstthe already – turned crowd the People’s Tribunal”, People’s They were joined by János Nagy himself, who in the end, could not be not could end, in the who himself, Nagy János by joined were They 109 It seemed that the Jews of Kunmadaras betrayed their neighbors, and neighbors, their betrayed Kunmadaras of Jews the that seemed It 113 which could refer to an already presumed Jewish an already refer whichcouldpresumed to 110 That was the moment also when the blood libel 25 112 Ę In the end, this entire crowd Lázár, secretary of local the of secretary Lázár, CEU eTD Collection betrayer of the community’s interest. community’s of betrayer the politician asa Social the Democrat village becausethe regarded sufferedonly Wurczel strong, and forexampleup another, Aporsets namely probablymore convincingtheory, that because of his role inthe trial hisand political position. not and descent Jewish his of because beaten was Wurczel that thinks Vörös is why That Corporation. of Trade the the building hehim enter beat could before to started since they and his teeth, he broke, rib hishead too. hadinjuries on permitwithdraw him his to testimony. 121 120 119 118 117 116 115 statements. his change to he refused and Nagy János against testified he also because or petition, the sign to want not he did because probably Corporation, Trade the of building the outside up Hewasbeaten aggression. of firstthe object is clearwhyhewasthe not It secretary. local Democrat the Social Wurczel, Ferenc victim was first beat The their victims. to started from Karcag. sixpolicemen further demandmore for policemen, and as a result, nine officers arrived from Kunhegyes and a a they sent Afterwards, headquarters. police the to him they butrescued later crowd, to the Takács Ferenc handed they First contradictory. least is at policemen the of behavior the Here hebut refused teacher, this demand. withdraw his to the addition, testimony against topersuade Ferenc Takács wanted they Apor,1996 p 15. Ibid. p 72. 1994 Vörös, Pelle,1995 p 156. p 72. 1994 Vörös, p 72. 1994 Vörös, Ötvös, 1990p83. 117 Some sources emphasize that he referred to his communist faith which did not did which faith communist his to referred he that emphasize sources Some 115 116 121 118 However, none of them stopped the mob when they According to Vörös, Ferenc Wurczel lost five of his 26 120 119 However, thisreasoningis notthat He could not even say yes or no, or yes say even not could He CEU eTD Collection 126 66, (2007): pp20-44. 125 124 123 122 laterintoSolymosi, developedfamous the case which of reported first disappearance Eszter the paper Catholic since 20Maywhen a 1882, in Thatblood inthematzo. inchildren Hungary, tousetheir waswell-known especially order Christian kill allegedly Jews the that means accusation libel blood well-known the course, libel blood the well-known accusations.” shouted describes: crowd “the As Vörös themakethat Jews “in Christian kidnap paprikás to from children sausage order or them.” yell to started marketeers the in of Vörös story the turn, credible hardly After this sentence. during the pogrom Zsigmondemigrant, signaledof Tóth, thebeginning pogrom.the at all, itbeginning. is unlikely its actual of versions different present four authors of out three however, in market; the started thatVörös he wentaccepts to The following day Tuesday, day was the at weeklymarketKunmadaras.the of Thepogrom the Ötvös’market justreport,Jews the and The Eggs – Day Second The 2.3 to say thisthat shorta “Let’s dance!” and injured. eighteen shout from leaving dead village, the through three violencemorning spread anti-Jewish next when the the SlovakianfollowingThe nightwas act wasrelativelycalm this anduneventful. first violent only It the Poland: is accusation this onlya same role of theinhuman. were blood they therefore children, innocent libel from food make to able accusation in post-wara vehicle by which localsthe Hungarywanted to distance the Jewish community, stating that they were as Gross sees wasonly accusation libel a Herethe blood case. not typical was inargues, Kunmadaras as Apor it in post-war Apor,1996 p 28. 1880”, the in murder ritual and violence provinces: antisemitic “Hungary’s Nemes, Robert Ibid. p 73. 1994 Vörös, Ötvös, 1990p84, Vörös, 1994 p 72. pretext to legitimize the violence but does not serve as not a real does but violence legitimize the to 27 Tiszaeszlár trial 122 Since Tóth did not occur not did Tóth Since . 125 In contrast In tothis, 126 Slavic Review Slavic Apor sees the sees Apor 124 Vol. Of 123 CEU eTD Collection same person. same are the merchant lynched and later the markerteer Jewish attacked the –interpretation, wrong muchin heso his book Klein identifiesthat his Sándor FerencKuti. with In –obviously Kunmadaras, Ferenc Kuti. However, this contradiction over the names confused János Pelle mayVörös want torefer cousinshipthe to between him later murderedand the Jewfrom other 132 131 130 129 128 127 Sándor eggs. price of the Klein about Sándor beginning of the riot, Apor reports, the pogrom started with aquarrel between the women and Klein andhiswife. sale by him (Kuti),attacking Sándor Fisch,including women, three EszterKabai destroyed boxesTóth, several of eggs for offered after Right accusations. against the protest he to tried justbecause beaten was Tiszaszentimre According to Vörös, following the screaming, Vilmos Fisch, a fifty-five-year-old Jew from conflict. economic indicates which him, while victim expression, an beating a “shark”, namedthe joined women, heralready other two the Klein,who Sándor however, attacked first who one the was She Jews. the by kidnapped was son brother’s her that market the at version of the beginning of the riot refers to the local woman, Eszter Tóth Kabai, who shouted by book János Pelle focuses on archaicthe libel blood accusations. Notsurprisingly,his The hadappeared. already conflict first only the after started libel were blood accusations reason for it. Pelle, 1995 pp 159-160. Apor,1996 p 18. Ibid., pp 72-73. Pelle,1995 p 159. Apor,1996 pp 17-18. Apor,1996 p 30, Gross, 2007p 248. Klein (Kuti) 132 127 As Apor argues, the pogrom started with a row over the prices , while the other sources name the same person simply as Sándor 131 It is sometimes disturbing that Vörös calls the victim the calls Vörös that disturbing sometimes is It 28 130 In opposite version of the 128 , and all and , 129 Klein . CEU eTD Collection 56032, p 9. 137 136 135 children. of two mother the year housewife, old Mrs.Salángi, atwenty-two him,especially beathimandkicked women from Budapest with morningthe train. arrived István in market. Lázársfeld the Jew attacked thethird crowd time,At same the the in places. wife’s three and shouted them much beat so in broke SándorKlein’sskull that seven his while places, two men, who were herding pigs, stopped them.“Megállj, tezsidó!” (“Stop you, Jew”) – they when Kunmadaras,in They escape from of outskirts the managedwere already market. the to child, and right afterher Jewswho inmarkethad aboutthe kidnapped Kabaiscreamed the Eszter Tóth that recalls this, women attacked(While theBlood) the Kleins. Jewish whoshowed mesurvivor, adocumentary about pogrom,the entitled: Bálint Somogyi. aman, This aswell as her, joined women andother Jewishmerchant, first the Ruszki” attacked thirty-seven year old farmer was the neighbor of László Farkas, the 134 133 pay a peng this person.) When she agreed with one of the women on the price of the eggs, that she could was inBánhegyesi, in who born Russia. Omsk, wasJulianna trial there inthe later defendants the (Among arrived. “Julianna Ruszki” eggs,when the ratherbuyingthanselling Kleinthisit, was point at statement. According to apersonal based on on Kleins, the attack the about descriptively most the writes Ötvös Ötvös, 1990 p85, Files of Zsigmond Tóth’s Trial in Trials of People’s the Tribunal, Budapest Archives, V p 73. 1994 Vörös, Ötvös, 1990p85. K Files of Zsigmond Tóth’s Trial in Trials of the People’s Tribunal, Budapest Archives, V56032, p 5. Ę szegi Edit directed Edit szegi Ę for an egg, then Sándor Klein offered triple price for the same eggs. “Julianna for eggs. same the triple price Klein offered egg,then Sándor an for . In this film Kelin’s Sándor also son tells his version of attack.He the Mid 135 Ę n a vér 137 , 1994, Budapest. The case of Lázársfeld from Budapest, and from Fisch TheBudapest, Lázársfeld from caseof 136 He immediately went to the market, where the where market, the to went immediately He 29 133 It is likely, that Ötvös’ informer refers to 134 What is certain is that the Kleins isis the that What certain Mid Ę n avér CEU eTD Collection Tiszafüred, namelynorthwards. Healso adds Hasznos’that shop wasdemolished. which adds market leftthe Ötvös square towards this group that smaller wasthe groups. 140 139 138 dead” Lászlóis“HereandHasznos its Jew, astinky Jewishowner,shouting: wemust him strike of shop the attacked persons eight escape, Kleins’ the after right that, describes She act. violent next the reports events, the of character anti-Jewish the emphasize to tries who Vörös, Hesaidno. peoplegood that wereliving here, marched group forward. andthe family Farkasthe group. The led peasantswanted torob house,their but Somogyi that said of neighbor the Somogyi, Bálint mentioned above The street. in their walking peasants armed 1946 they heard the voices of the riot, so they hid in the attic. From there, they saw a group of adds. “Nothing was there, exceptwhen they homethey arrived from deportation,the found theirhouse andshopempty. some strawbut village, in the witha shoe-shop had had family his lice war the Before then. old inyears nineteen which the Russian soldiersin Kunmadaras. searchfor inparts moreof smallerorder Jews Hewas to other groups slept.” – he László Farkas recalls the days of the pogrom. According to him, Village the Around the2.4 Marching rioters left the market in However, when the crowd finished its job in the market, mostly the local Jews were in danger. local Jewry. atthe only attack their address not did rioters the that show Tiszaszentimre Ötvös, 1990p85. p 73. 1994 Vörös, Interview by the author, 22 May 2009, Budapest. 138 139 His family was also involved in the egg and hen business after the war.On May hen the business after ininvolved21 eggand the Hisfamily also was The fact, that “only” eight rioters attacked Hasznos confirms that the crowd splitinto 30 140 CEU eTD Collection blood libel accusation could be only a pretext, and not the real and real ofattack. the not be a libelcause the only pretext, could blood accusation the well as case in their however, mothers, Christian all of behalf on acted They old. years twenty-four and twenty-one twenty-two, forty,fifty, women, were ordinary they that appears Neulander, and urged the other peasants with the words: “Kill the Jew!” “Kill the words: with the peasants other and the urged Neulander, children kidnapped by Jewsinthe the morning. She was one the firstwho hit Ferenc the about market inthe screamed first who woman, theilliterate KabaiTóth, led byEszter It was around 10 a.m., when ten to fifteen rioters arrived at duvet.” reclaimed of because the the Neulanders. This group was finally indicates suffer“you of realnature the onewhich animosity: hits to the have these more and child?” “Doyou wantone or children!” away our take they because Jews, the “Let’s beat Mrs.Rosenberg: shouted whilebeating some attackers the of sentences the quotes her children.ordered togiveback kidnapped the Christian 147 146 145 144 143 142 141 shouting: “Doyou need a People’s Tribunal? Here comes the Tribunal. Enough of the reign of were They Nagy. János of trial the hijack to tried which demonstration the about police informing Karcag the daybeforeand the phoning they of FerencNeulander Vörös, accused Kántor. publishes the participants’ names: Gizella Mrs. M., B.Nagy,Kusák Margit and Julianna even He Hasznos. attacked which than theone of rioters the group wasanother this that After him onVörös – – goes crowdthe arrived atRosenberg Gyula’s home. Ötvös, 1990p85. Pelle, 1995 p 161,153. Files of Zsigmond Tóth’s Trial in Trials of the People’s Tribunal, Budapest Archives, Ötvös, 1990p85. V56032, p 3-7. Pelle,1995 p 161. Ötvös, 1990p85. p 73. 1994 Vörös, 142 Pelle adds to them Sára Kerepesi to the list. the to Kerepesi Sára them addsto Pelle 146 31 143 They attacked Mrs.Rosenberg They and attacked 144 From the files of their trial, it trial, their of files the From 147 141 According to Ötvös argues Ötvös 145 Pelle CEU eTD Collection 154 153 152 151 150 149 148 children.” our take Jews!You the values. family’s the torecover attempts the becauseof up especially beaten they were them that coming back from Asdeportation. they explain, during the pogrom, attackersinformed the after and back duvets a mirror get the family to they wanted how describe The Weinbergers returning hisis to home, that whyhe decidedtosell from houseand the emigrate Hungary. nohe way of sees says that Karcag, of hospital the from justreleased was who Weinberger, leaveFerenc Kunmadaras. intention to the family’s to for refers Sale”) which House pogrom, he closed his salon, and hidwith his wife in his neighbor’s attic. in When Kunmadaras. Ferenc heheard hairdresser Weinbergerwasthe voices the of the his life. three women and a man by a shovel hit her. Kabaiand othersTóth found them beat and them up. Köztársaság Köztársaság, 1st July 1946, p 7. p 74. 1994 Vörös, Ötvös, 1990p86. p 74. 1994 Vörös, Ötvös, 1990p85. Ibid. p 74. 1994 Vörös, 154 149 Three men andfive women parttook in actual the lynching. published a report about the Weinbergers. The article entitled “ Thearticle Weinbergers. entitled aboutthe areport published 148 As a result of the injuries suffered Ferenc Neulander lost As injuries suffered FerencNeulander of aresultthe 153 32 Forty days after the pogrom, the daily called daily the pogrom, the after days Forty 152 Mrs. Weinberger remembered Mrs.Weinberger that 150 151 However, Eszter However, Eladó ház ”, (“A CEU eTD Collection disarm their victim: Ferenc Kuti. The rioters did not dare to enter his house because according his enter because dare house to not did rioters The Kuti. Ferenc victim: disarm their to policemen calledthree day yetagain crowd next the the on Ferenc Takács, disarming for fulfilled demand the as on20May, policemen the when Just among villagers. respect the as a representation the of communist ruled Ministry Internalof Affaires had very limited vain. in dissolution for called officer ahigh-ranking when attempt, mentions the failure. also She this of unfold reasons the although fails to she factors, Vörös blames the inability Police ofthe Role 2.5 The of the police to stop the rioters to giving stayingthe orders policemen. as one of called todisperse. did the rioters the The crowd not obey,drove thelieutenant and away without most important womenother him,beat hisbroke hand and in two places. The rioters caught station. railway him,the hideat to andtried Street, Kunhegyesi on his shop Weisz closed Bertalan walked him back to the marketplace where Eszter Kabai Tóth and 157 156 155 of issue The 2. Vörös, 1994 p 74. 1994 Vörös, Vörös, 1994 p 74, Ötvös 1990p 86. Ötvös, 1990p86. Köztársaság on 1July 1946(Collection of the Jewish Museum’s Archive) 156 33 155 157 At this point the police lieutenant police the point this At It is likely, that the police itself, police the that likely, is It CEU eTD Collection 164 163 162 161 160 159 158 Kuti to therumor had agun. from Kuti’s house and took it as Kuti’s the local headquarters from police houseandtook to clues. allsausage for exampleconfiscated they since accusation, libel blood the possibly shared community. Jewish its off” “finish to Kunmadaras of the inhabitants allowed authorities local the approval message ofapproval.the By this had in situations certain therioters with of police the cooperation the that Pelle argues János forever. leaveif kill her notKunmadaras she did to threatening letter received an anonymous Haladás stabbed him and Ferencfinally Kuti in inJune,died hospital the Karcag.of havedid any butwith Kuti not started himself.beat gun, Themob to himup,somebody even he that news the only with not back came and place Kuti’s entered policemen The peasants. clothes from the locals. However, they did not claim the confiscated wealth ifitwas wealth claim confiscated not the didthey locals. However, from the clothes factors mingled. The returning Jews claimed their assets, their houses, their animals, and their 1946, only twenty pogrom, the 1946, only before twenty days breakout of the violence in Kunmadaras possible. inKunmadaras of breakout violence the the made together all poverty post-war the and Army Red the by committed pillage the class, institutions, dissolution the of gendarmerie,the the local emigration corrupted the of higher in places pogrom destruction perspective.the the Ashe a broader legal the shows, of Pelle, 1995 pp 151-152. Pelle,1995 p 160. Pelle,1995 p 159. Haladás 18 July 1946 p 5. p 74. 1994 Vörös, Ötvös, 1990p86. Ötvös, 1990p86. 161 newspaper interviews newspaper Kuti Mrs. on 18 July 1946. According article,the to she 158 Out of the three, two policemen joined the police on 1 May 159 34 thus they did not have any authority over the over authority any have not did they thus 164 162 In his view, political and the economic the and political view, his In Hesuggests some that policementhe of 163 160 However, Pelle The progressive The CEU eTD Collection 169 168 167 166 165 another. man. his Then, they took stick outof hisandbeat hand, him itinwith after turns, one the followed only they First, day. that permitted was Jew-baiting the that heard probably they they childrenheard two that had from village. disappeared the people reports, an nextAsÖtvös were working. airport, to army was living.Beside road, the Rosinger, who tried to escape from the village. He was going towards Karcag, where his sister murderThe last of pogrom the happened Kunmadaras. outside László knew Farkas József thepeasants. vis-à-vis police from the possessed bythe Communistrepresentatives the of Party. Inreturn they expected support clothes were full blood, but of they sympathy from expected authorities.the Their children. Christian the killed and kidnapped had Jews the how Szolnok of captain on their cloths and tried to justify their gatheredfound rioters the around police’sthe building.inhabitants stood The withthere blood cruel act. They tried to explain to the police first officer,Pál experience. Drukker’s When arrived Kunhegyes,Drukker from he regional police Pelle does not stop interpreting End 2.6 The the events where Ötvös, Vörös and Aporman death. helpless to andbeatthe Rosinger, do. He recalls a allegedly Karcag, men approached from who unknown body,saw three collapsed they Pelle,1995 p 161. Files of Zsigmond Tóth’s Trial in Trials of the People’s Tribunal, Budapest Archives, Apor,1996 p 21. V56032, p 34. Ötvös, 1990p86. Pelle,1995 p 153. 167 According to the files of the later trial, when the workers left József Rosinger’s 165 168 35 166 What is more important: 169 Pelle’s source Pelle’s CEU eTD Collection disappointed they when they disappointed were, wereturned.” Dévaványa. As soon as we to left or Karcag ghetto tothe either taken Kunmadaras were Jews from April “In the 1944, the village, they robbed says: Farkas As inhabitants. LászlóJewish deported from houses the of looted abandoned the our houses. You can imagine,sentiments. how anti-Semitic fuelled further astheenemiesstabilization of Hungarian the black-marketeers the against fight a for called which campaign political-economic lasting long The Kunmadaras. of pogrom the in understanding important is very tension economic the that right pogrom. Péter Apor in his thesis analyzes the campaign against the black-marketeers andits role of the leave. – to Nagy trial János of the main witness – the Takács Ferenc called also proclamation 176 175 174 173 172 171 170 lifevillage.” of democratic the tothe adopt themselves not could Jews“who only those targeted and modified was of expulsion thisdecision leavevillage. Later the to Kunmadaras – of Jewry – called Gergely the local leadership of the the Takács with parties political pogrom. the about issuedmeeting, which aproclamation inter-party Therewasalsoan localsonly headquarters. the However, thepolice not gathered around They evennot thatthey did bethink could arrested.” Jews. from the theirprotect children police the to wanted people seemed thatthese “itadds: in 1946,recallshermother’s memories: “Mymother had valuables some her given to Interview by the author, 22 May 2009, Budapest. Apor,1996 pp 6-7. Ibid., p 8. Ötvös, 1990p87. Apor,1996 p 25. Vörös, 1994 pp 74-75. Pelle, 1995 pp 161-162. 173 174 Although he may overestimate the effects of the newspapers and posters, he is he andposters, newspapers of the effects the hemay Although overestimate 175 However, the economic tension relied also on the Jews’ claims for wealth 176 36 Éva Quittner, who was only thirteen years old 170 171 The representatives of representatives The 172 The CEU eTD Collection party meetingparty they theJewsexpelled from village.the “judgment day”, and partly with their aggression and partly with the proclamation of the inter- for a right hadclaimedthe of thevillagers some Kunmadaras part growing In aggression. block the to by werereluctant libel local the and policemen erupted accusation, blood the hire one itmostlyof them, was in in possible market the finally morning.the The tension family. The market was also central in the life of the day-laborers, since if someone wanted to for their food buy to womenthe wanted place where wasthe this because place, market at the 179 178 177 second biggestin city Hungary. Thehad events numerouscommentaries in Hungary and In summerthe of 1946 violentturbulence in occurred Miskolc, atraditional industrial city, the 3. TheTwo Waves of Turbulence in in1946 Miskolc drought. the of because suffered also who peasants, of the disappointment prisoners had nothing.” selling…they nothingworked still whitethey ate bread, had suits made, while we, war- off, hardly howarriving from deportation well the lived buying through and they werewell Jews, the sureenough, of Kunmadaras about…that “In talked people Jewry. alot among a thelocals.defendant Aporquotes of laterthe trial, he complained as about local the more dissatisfaction even produced fact which recovering, werequickly the Jews However, Russians.’ We had to start everything from zero.” these but answermyby the thesame:‘Oh, things, was dear, everythingwastaken always the Christian friends When and neighbors. we arrived deportation, backfrom she back the asked Vörös, 1994 p 72. 1994 Vörös, Apor,1996 p 21. Ibid. 178 The quick economic growth of the local Jews increased the 37 177 179 The riot started CEU eTD Collection Hungary] (Budapest:Osiris, 1999) p 17. Hungarian Nazis and collaborators to rebury Jewishthe victims, and dragtheir coffins into the Politburo severalof yet but alleged MiskolcPolicesentencedthe ordered –captured not – members of thethe men, Jewish were victims Labor the of Most people. 121 killed Movement, Service Cross Arrow Forces beside reburialthe Hungarian at Létrástet Army. industrialSeven andof which Miskolc roughed workers atragic event, upthe wrong way:the months later the registered. In 1783 only seventy Jews lived inthe city, in1941 while 10,428 Jewishinhabitants were 3.1 Preconditions them as organized, violent expressions of anti-Jewish sentiment, as pogroms. depict scholars most while demonstrations, andworkers riots food traditional resemble events the of characteristics the that demonstrates and turbulences the reconstructs chapter This on topic. the work historical 181 180 responsibility in his study published in 1986. of question the raised Varga when János act brave a was still It Miskolc. in events country it is not surprising that for forty years nobody wrote extensively about the anti-Jewish Army. thecommunistsinstigated Since violencethe andfrom 1948 they the wholeruled Red the of support full the with Affairs Internal of Ministry the controlled Party Communist MKP, Hungarian the in acoalition government, time, country. That of the picture a desirable presenting werenot Hungarian countryside inthe and thepogroms Hungary,with agreement powerswerepreparing victorious This peace- the the too. abroad wasthe period when Varga, 1986 pp 310-311. Tamás Csíki, 181 Two local preconditions should be underlined, namely the unusual concentration unusual the namely be underlined, should preconditions local Two Városi zsidóság Északkelet- ésKelet-Magyarországon Ę . Here in November 1944 the SS, with the members of the Hungarian 38 180 Interestingly till this day this is the best is the this day this till Interestingly [UrbanJewry Northeastin and East CEU eTD Collection Blood LibelAccusations] in 186 185 184 183 182 Allies. the by well as limited time same the at and installed 1948, aparliamentary democracy was installed. This unprecedented political system was Hungary. postwar the andforemost in First in so-calledthe “coalition era”, between 1945 and However, most preconditions of the Miskolc anti-Jewish riots were general victims”, etc. “Here arebringing our we criminals” or “We fascistcharacteristicsor arethe in iswe’ve done” “That messages: what on following hungthem plates city. policewith The the their valuables for food on on food for theirmarket. blackthe valuables In inaddition, inflation1946, very rose high. As aresult, most Hungarians had toexchange Approximately million of warand the missing a tons dueto wheat of was gross drought 1945. was the biggest problem, since only of necessarythe 40 percent was available. amount famine. In of of because lack of winter wheat dangerof the the 1945 the situation, especially hard wasina government the However, services. thesecret and thepolice controlled Affairs,which of Internal Ministry the ruled Party Communist Hungarian the representative, could take partin could political the decisions. take masses history, in Hungarian time first the for 1945, from that note to important also is It situation. in aprivileged Jewswere it the seem that could forHungarians, certain This iswhy, andfinancialsurvivors. for Holocaust the Jointthe provided provisions remarkable support achieve by more and more political campaigns. One of importanttheirmostcampaigns election, and the communists did everythingextend to theirpolitical basis,which they tried to Éva Standeisky, “A Háború Utáni Vérvádak Történelmi Háttere” [The Historical Background Szabó,of 1995p 45,the Post-war Karády, 2002p 48. Pölöskei,Gergely, Izsák, 1995 pp 186-187. Karády,2002 p 12. Szabad Magyarország, 6 May 1945 p 3. 185 Vérvádak Üzenete (Budapest: Minoritas Könyvek,1996) pp 63-64. 186 The Independent Smallholders Party won the 1945 184 39 The American Jewish Distribution Committee, Distribution Jewish American The 183 The Soviets, and as their local 182 CEU eTD Collection contract with the owner Sándor Rejt of mill,by signinga Florian the “black-marketeers” the They uncovered significant success. which first achievedits after shortly Miskolc formedCommittee”, the “Forint-defender 190 189 188 187 the director and his employee, Ern the mill’sand truck, stopped July On police the mill.28 could aagainst the be demonstration which is why director the of printingthe press had blackmailto him:if he didnot sign there forint per quintal.instead of80 240 forintfor wheat, the price newspaper –would pay triple local communist At first the Jewish owner of the mill did not want to sign the contract, black-marketeers!” speculating the to “Death Magyarország be democracy base of hanged.”has to our economic undermine the to whoever wants forint, the with speculates “Whoever audience: thegathered,250,000 approximately he to inMiskolc.stabilization told thefollowing Here economic the about speech made a Party, Communist theHungarian of Secretary General Mátyás Rákosi, on23July 1946, black-marketeers, the against of campaign As a the part Black-marketeers the Fight against for ofaCall Echo 3.2 The Jews. were black-marketeers thatthe which suggested campaign had by articles inducedanti-Jewish sentiments speeches, posters, andbanners, the Apor, by is demonstrated it As forint. the currency, national new the of introduction the for way the pave to in order economy, Hungarian the of stabilization the targeted Varga, 1986 p 295. Szabad Magyarország, 24 July 1946. p 1. p 136. 1995 Szabó, Apor,1996 pp 6-7. the commentary about Rákosi’s speech had an even more precise subhead: more precise even had an Rákosi’s speech about commentary the Ę Jungreisz were arrested. Ę . According tothe contract, the buyer – the printer ofthe 188 On the next day, in the communist daily communist in the day, next the On 40 189 On27 inJuly 1946 local the communists 187 190 Szabad CEU eTD Collection about the demonstration, knew them. the authorities approached Since of instead a huge crowd tram Unfortunately,the transport. At the Vörös or Saint Annait church they got off theis tram to wait for the possibleconnection. bypublic policeman by one and they traveled only Theywereaccompanied detainee. another that the crowd and the victims did not meet by arrested Jews,Rejtarrested they followed the tramline leading underAsbanners workers. they proceeded shifts10,000 containedafternoon approximately towards the center of Miskolc. startedIn theearly towalkforgein workers lines.afternoon the Themorning structured and At the same time the two (Forge - VörösChurch -County Hall - BúzaSquare) Workers the of Route 3.3 The for the black-marketeers. to demandcapital order punishment in2pm tomeet Miskolc tothe police in at headquarters forgemindful and proceed workers from the mouth of the bread the out took black-marketeers the that stressed It them. mob lawagainst use worker time to while he workedwas high andit food stole the workers, of the black-marketeers fact the that the emphasized on the machine. The mill!” proclamation The Florian the of black-marketeers the author“Death to tellingtitle: the also called all Diósgy mostinin wereechoedin of factory important communistMiskolc,newspaper the the the hardship. itwas the enough of andadded that black-marketeers, the case against with lordlieutenant Oszip, of István hein the whoMiskolc, himselfacted that declared the 192 191 On followingthe day the Ibid., p 297. Varga, 1986 pp 294-296. Ę r forge. Soon after a proclamation appeared on the bulletin boards of the factory with factory of the boards bulletin the on appeared after aproclamation Soon forge. r Ę and Jungreisz, were sent to work mine and totheso-called Jungreisz,to with weresent Baross Szabad Magyarország 41 reported arrestandpublishedthe reported aninterview 192 191 The words CEU eTD Collection out of it. The spectacle of food made the hungry rioters mad. maderioters hungry food the of it. of spectacle The out fromfell food and his body, opened, the backpackdeparted him. somehow time At same the more times, since he “had a more Semitic look.” sincehe“hadamoremore Semitic times, soldiers who took him into the Erzsébet Hospital. However, the crowd hit Jungreisz even unconscious lifefinally millowner, was saved whose policemen by Soviet the and the of of Rejt starving.”Our children are Jungreisz Rejt and womenother from A lot “plebeianMiskolc. of which joined thecrowd, people” took riot, who remembered particularly numerous women around, not only from the forge, but also the police!” or “We want to see the hanging!” János Pelle cites one of the eyewitnesses jurisdiction. “Weof permission for “Weshouted They aregoing hang trust to them!” and don’t the it and newspaper balcony towards communistthe showed the issue of the lifted people several obey.not Instead did crowd the However, crime. colonel called the peoplelieutenant- Kiss,police andFerenc county communists, Borsod of the General Secretary to return to Szkladán, theirÁgoston building the of balcony the from workplace Hall, County the at arrived march the and let theslogans. courtforint-defender and anti-Jewish shouted sanction which crowd the led men Jewish the alleged two the point this From forint-worseners!” the to “Death written: was it which on plate a hold third detainee go, but they confiscated his backpack, whichRejt his backpack, they confiscated but third go, detainee let decided Atthe end,the recognized to crowd black-marketeers. the workers the alleged 198 197 196 195 194 193 accident. Pelle,1995 p 223. Varga, 1986 p 298. Pelle,1995 p 223. Ibid., p 298. Varga, 1986 p 297. Pelle, 1995 pp 215-218. Ę andhead.hitting him with it crowdkept hit Hecollapsed on and kicking the the and 193 However, the policeman did not want to deliver Rejt deliver to want not did policeman the However, Ę to BúzaSquare. These women were shouting “Theyhave be to killed. 196 Here, on Búza Square somebody took the plate from the hands 42 198 One of the rioters hanged him by his belt his by him hanged rioters the of One 195 Ę 197 had to wear. He also hadwear. Healso to had to as some kind of written Ę They wildly beat up the up beat wildly They and Jungreisz when the when Jungreisz and 194 When CEU eTD Collection bait. Jew- gohad any be to found to placeBúza Squarewasthe whereJewscouldtime, one where Police. of Municipal Miskolc inspector former words of a arethe these startedgroup Jew-baitingin Búza Square. They caught aJew,pushed him,at him.” shouted – dayfollowing“on the book: ina smaller Búza Squareoncemore pogrom appears Pelle’s the 201 200 199 alessonJewish merchants by lynching Rejt of inflation. the andmarketeers instigators the frombasic food husbands’their salaries in 1946.They were particularly angry at theblack- home market,buy because they from they not Búza Square returned could even most the as were wives forge whoremembersoften Mihály Fekete, who workers’ disappointed the quotes Pellefact. even this stress scholars the of None incentury. thenineteenth as early herewhich wassold as wheat the name refers itself to Its Miskolc. of marketplace traditional the Búza Squarewas lynching: chosethevenueof the crowd was not the that by accident It Loci 3.4 Genius where him pronounced adoctor headquarters, dead. awaypolicemen arrived, corpse the took They who from him rioters. the took policethe to on a dray, drew him which meters.approximately At thisseventy time abiggergroup of Pelle,1995 p 233. Fekete, 1983 p 124. Varga, 1986 p 299. Ę and Jungreisz place atthe of wheatselling. the 43 200 It seems that the rioters wanted to teach all toteach wanted rioters seems thatthe It 199 201 It is obvious that CEU eTD Collection 202 earlier of at Frequently wereinsupport people public demonstrations the workers. arrested recurring occasionally usually involved or, demonstrations thousandseveral athousand policemen. Justas in Budapest, lastthe decades of 19 the Jewish cruel the andco-workers punish free wanted to arrested the demonstrators the Búza Squarewhere Jews business, the andfinally where theirdid atthepolice headquarters, then local of rulers, seat Hall, County the the first in Miskolc itwas 1946riots case of the in city.”of the in heart the anyevent etc., police departments, buildings, government in whereof business, front had of resided theirpetition of the addressees theiror or place 1869 andhis can workone 1914.In read the place following:“Mostworkers’ action took in between Budapest, in violence collective of forms the analyzes Gyáni Gábor Hungary. Warin World before First the class of working the resemble demonstrations riots the the Miskolc closely how stress thescholars of none that is striking it prospective a later From 3. The market on Búza Square in 1910 (Source: private postcard collection) GáborGyáni, Identity and the Urban Experience (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005), p 143. 44 th century: “The regularly century: 202 In the In CEU eTD Collection simply slipped through fingers. organizers’ simply the slipped through theevents of control the that he thinks However, lynching. of possibility the advance about dissolve the demonstration, although members of the Communist Party notified them in 206 205 204 203 accident. by happen not did andtheblack-marketeers demonstrators of the encounter the so detainees, the of schedule and leaked theroute authorities the Miskolc likely is very that it Szabó, Róbert to According Behavior Authorities’ the of Interpretations Two 3.5 demonstrators were, in fact, seizing control of the space.” – as Gyáni puts it – “when the same did by celebrations since initiated conquest, asymbolic authorities.TheMiskolc workers the space was used ‘unofficially’ military marches,parades, publicceremonies, served for often Also authorities. these areas for similar purposes, the behaviorin had center public.Thecity specialimportance, with buildingsofmunicipal the Gyáni streetdemonstrationsthat alsonotes suspended rules temporarily theaccepted of headquarters.” infrontdemonstrations…In of held cases police the demonstration the was usually these the survivor Rejt the testimony of church. He quotes undertheVörös stop tram at the meet black-marketeers andthealleged workers madethe scenario” “deterrent the that Pelle issure from Budapest. evening late inthe only returned and morning in the city the left Miskolc of lieutenant lord the surprisedIstván Oszip, is that not Police. He plan Political the so-called the of according to Ibid., p 138. p 137. 1995 Szabó, Gyáni, 2005 p 146. Gyáni, 2005 pp 137-138. 203 Ę , who said that they were supposed to leave the internment camp almost two 205 He goes on to blame the police that they did nothingin to order blamethey did that police the Hegoesonto 45 206 As Jánoshappened Pelle everything argues, 204 CEU eTD Collection attitude of the police also supports his theory. supports of also police attitude the hitting him that way, which let the food fall out of the same bag. 211 210 209 208 207 the dueto postponed wastwice trial the However, ateenager. and merchant a craftsmen, four most people, of nine forge of them workers, employees public the company railway (MÁV), lynchingin Miskolc. The PublicOffice Prosecutor’s broughta charge againstthirty-five the for sentenced ever was nobody that mind in bear to has one hand, other the On shame. community’s own blamefor a to attempt yet outsiders another conspiracy complicated in this see can one hand, one On facts. the prove really not does and deduces, only he since version, forced Rejt crowd the sure that itmaking he in hadabackpack food with it. Pelleservices for secret seesthethe responsibility of is why This Police. of Political the agent acloaked certainly was millers with Jewish the stop closer to aconspiracy theory when he declares that the third detainee, who stood at the tram his hand, on which it was written: “death to the enemies of the forint!” men, this timehis source is István B., whomarched in the middle of the crowd with a plate in young unknown the about testimony another cites Pelle However, him. attacked who before slogans. Semitic They were the thedemonstration. of head the marched at Police Political the members of thatthe states Pelle ones who recognized Rejt they left, thisinstead policeman, of saying goodbye, said: “have fun!” hours earlier, but a policeman kept them there with an administrative reason. Finally, when He has two witnesses: one is Rejt Ibid., p 222. Ibid., p 221. Ibid., p 220. Ibid., pp 219-220. Pelle, 1995 pp 215-217. 208 How does Pelle know that these people belonged to the secret services? thesecret belonged to people thatthese doesPelle know How Ę himself, who testified, that he had never seen the workers Ę to wear the backpack, and then somewhat later, for later, somewhat then and backpack, wear the to Ę and Jungreisz and they shouted the first anti- 46 211 It is against It hard very argue to Pelle’s 210 He thinks that the passive thatthe Hethinks 207 209 Pelle’s version gets CEU eTD Collection of Internal Affairs, that some Miskolcthe Budapest communist party toinform to traveled László timeRajk, that of Minister the workers thought that the black-marketeers deserved the freed from of from torturers.” Jewish hands freed the the be to had “workers arrested the that conclusion the to led was group the and policemen, the of the cruelty their explainedfreed colleagues to The workers previous day’sdemonstration. the discussed actually where workers forge, the to the directly Ocsenás went Ágoston and werefreed. sixteen on 31 July foursuspects of out However, everybody. by known became violence physical the room, same in the kept were persons although according to Szabó,although only according to father lieutenantthe was Jewish.the of descent, Jewish of was Fogarasi that note All sources workers. suspected ofthe some morning. next the investigation was led The Fogarasi, bylieutenant physically who assaulted by were arrested and sixteen people rejected his was proposal beforeacting.days However, of a couple wait should police the that and proposed theorder with disagreed County Hall, the from calm invain thecrowd balcony the previously to of down tried who lieutenant-colonel, policeKiss,murderers. Ferenc arrestof the ordered whothe Hungarian the Countryside, with in leader a the Political from telegram of the Police They received policemen. high-ranking situation the discuss to meeting a had Szkladán Ágoston leader, party local the mob, On the afternoon of 30 July 1946, on the same day when Ern July1946,on when sameday On the afternoon 30 of the Demonstration theSecond Ledto Which Arrests 3.6 The 216 215 214 213 212 of occasion 100 the illness of leadingthe legal judge.The solution of case the was provided by amnesty the on the Varga, 1986 p 299, Pelle 1995 p 230. Varga, 1986 p 299. p 139. 1995 Szabó, Varga, 1986 p 301, Pelle, 1995 p 227. Varga, 1986 pp 309-310. th anniversary anniversary 1848revolution.the of 216 47 On the same day Mihály Fekete, secretary of secretary Fekete, Mihály On the same day 212 Ę 215 Jungreisz was lynched Jungreisz bythe was Two of them, József Ficsor 214 Since all alleged all Since 213 CEU eTD Collection around around city,the inhabitants congratulated whilethe them. weretaken freed wasopenedandthe workers Then of policethe gate truck. headquarters the remembers in Pelle’ book, the policemen even gave them flowers, before they were taken on a As of them one workers. of twelve the discharge the ordered viatelephone Rajk László further toprevent violence. workers, freeing todemand arrested the of police the headquarters 219 218 217 decided to crowd the policemen cruelty the the of about stories heard recently the of influence the Under obey. not did they but forge, the to return to workers the called shop-committee Semitic anti- slogans chanted They Miskolc. of center the towards forward marched and demonstration the of they met the freeddrove to the hospital inworkers his car on the orders of the lordlieutenant of Miskolc. The mainstream at the theatre, who Pál momentlastÁgoston, inwas prosecutor, bypublic the Hewassaved recovering. in Széchenyi Rejtinjured Sándor the black-marketeer, alleged hospital, the where Street. Erzsébet to the strayed Asmaller group police. the building of marchedthe forge towards the forgeDiósgy of inthe When the shop-committee by andbeaten Jews. the kept were colleagues theirbesiege where thebuilding to they went than two days before. They Three-four times moregathered by people miners. railway employees accompanied the and also armed themselves again. forge theywere todemonstrate This of started time with the On 1August1946 the workers sticks, metal bars, Gate) Hospital-Theatre-Zsolcai (Forge-Erzsébet and picks, since Siege and the Workers the of Route 3.7 The to free their colleagues. wanted mentioned workers the that Healso as unjust. arrests the saw lynching andtherefore Varga, 1986 p 301. Pelle, 1995 pp 232-239. Varga, 1986 p 300. 217 48 Ę r saw these preparations, they went to the r sawthese they preparations, went to 218 At the same time the crowd from Ę , the owner of mill , theowner of the 219 The CEU eTD Collection situation, where the Jewish policemen threaten the lives of innocent Christians, the Christians, innocent of lives the threaten policemen Jewish the where situation, imaginary the calls He disturbance. the of cause main a as policeman Jewish cruel the from in In todothis,an Miskolche the ishis whichtask. order fear the not topic, shows riots easy János Pelle’s book is about the post-Holocaust blood libels. He tries to fit the second wave of in Interpretation Differences 3.8 Further hours later. died some lieutenant hospital, the where Fogarasi Erzsébet the to They took machine guns. 223 222 221 220 to Fogarasi trailed lieutenant” Jewish “dirty found the they before criminals, all arrested out let They for Fogarasi. headquarters. They searched forfurther arrested workers, and most importantly: they searched besieged thepolice rioters János thousand Varga,approximately three According to They thesiege workers. speakers left whentheprominentstarted arrested building.the only mobthe demandedwith speeches. Thecrowd thepolicemen whoused violence againstthe lieutenant Oszip, thelordcalm of and aSovietcommanderMiskolc city,the to tried down of István again, Here gate. Zsolcai so-called atthe police headquarters the its way to continue several times. so they him where dropped therioters on pavement the him trampled on and him kicked down, truckbroke the andhanghim. wanted However, to transport crowd the forge because of he Later, the the meters. wastakento truck coupleof drewhim Fogarasi a dray,on which metal instruments. Just as they had done two days before with Jungreisz, the rioters hanged Varga, 1986 p 302. Miskolci Hírlap, 2 August 1946 p 2. Pelle,1995 p 243. Ibid. 220 223 in him cellar.Themob the took to out courtyard,the beat where they him with 221 According to the next day’s local daily, the Búza Square , where lynched him. 49 222 At last, Soviet soldiers arrived with arrived soldiers Soviet last, At Miskolci Hírlap , the perpetrators , the CEU eTD Collection May 1946, wherethecrowdattackeda significant partof local the Jewish community. distinguishing as importantfactor selection as themost in Kunmadarasopposed to the pogrom policemen were arrestedworkers the torturing too. János Varga agreeswith Bibóandsees this marketing. for black- alsoarrested he although was go, Baranyai Péter Christian the thirdthe detainee, escape. mob in non-Jewsto by the concluded andleaves 1948:theangerselects of the BibóIstván aswas process, selection in unmistakable occurs the riots the of characteristic The anti-Jewish behavior. certain tolerate not did they that show to wanted simply They fellow-citizens. their not attack the majority of Miskolc Jewry. This shows that the workers did not want to dispel ears and noses of the detainees and hit them. byvarious lieutenantof the intopencils the supported testimonies. them put Two recalled that workers, at least, that is written in the official police report in is official at the that least, written workers, arrested the hitand tortured in fact Fogarassi Artúr was real: cruel Jewish policeman the owner, Sándor Rejt visitedworkers hospital in theErzsébet tousefurther injuredthe order punishmenton mill 229 228 227 226 225 224 Jews. the workers saw the confirmation blood libel.”“constructed According tohim, in rumors aboutthe cruel the Jewish policeman of their prejudices about the savagery and infamy of the Varga, 1986 p 310. Pelle,1995 p 221. Bibó, 1984p275. Pelle,1995 p 231. Varga, 1986 p 299. Pelle,1995 p 232. 224 227 However, there are facts which contradict this view. First of all that a group of the On 30 July 1946, the demonstrators attacked Rejt 228 On 1 August the rioters wanted to catch riotersthe wanted to Jewishalthough Fogarassi, On1August other the Ę , who was notin a position to threaten anybody. Secondly, the picture of 50 226 Thirdly, and most importantly, the mob did mob the importantly, most and Thirdly, Ę and Jungreisz, however, they let 225 of the incident, and it is it and incident, the of 229 CEU eTD Collection motivation force behind the food riots, in forcemotivation riots, behindthefood black-marketeersthe against a way riotthe on 30 typical the is economy of concept moral the of breaching the Since justified. was them against violence the a triple price, at wheat whosold black-marketeers, by was breached the concept moral concept of ideally the working whichincludesthe economy rightful price. this Since a to refereed Thecampaign theworkers. effecton havehadnot an could black-marketeers inflation and serious shortage of food. Without this precondition the campaign against the extreme of combination the situation: economic follows from the factor special The other saying: “Here is your permission, what are you talking about?” whowanted tostop lynchingthe from balcony the of County the Hall, why the workers showed the communist journal, showedwhy thecommunist workers the communists, who were represented by the police in– speeches and newspaper articles. That is suggested approval of authoritiestoexpressthe anti-Jewishleast feelings at – or the working class inalready 19 the and mistreatment which arrests for“unjust” the wasareaction headquarters of police the siege while the attacks, these – as one can see in Gyáni’s Smallholdersthe Party. Inaway into demonstration the on asapolitical 30 July 1946fits act of article office the attacked they center, city the in coffeehouses – the wasstormed regularly They 1946. a typical reaction of committedthe violent actions in the center of Miskolc before the speech of Rákosi on 23 July 230 the rival Social Democrat and Smallholders Party. The forge workers of Diósgy belonged Jews, to the who against instigated communists the Rather values. their confiscated back and reclaimed as peoplenotcame who as survivorsHolocaust, of not theJews targeted campaign this However, black-marketeers. the itsagainst during campaign workers the The Hungarian Communist Party definitely misused the traditional anti-Jewish sentiment of Pelle,1995 p 213. th century. What makes the Miskolc riots special is the 51 Szabad Magyarország Szabad 230 to the authorities, the to as if they were Ę r had already CEU eTD Collection problem of problem insecurity of newly liberated towns. the Jewry. According to Gross, the CK asearly inAugustAccording 1944, Jewry. to as or Jewish violence in spring of the 1945, whenJews werereportedlyin killed Ostro anti- wave firstpost-war of the places Kersten, Krystina on basis of the Anna Cichopek, November 1944and the end1945, approximately of them 350 of murdered.were between that estimate Scholars inhabitants. for the Jewish life signal threat not of end did the 243,000 Jewslived in country the in middlethe of1946. 235 234 233 2003)Press, p 159. smashed by the rioters, just as the life of the victims. 232 231 of Polish Jews(CK Committee Central the According to perished Holocaust. inthe Before WorldWar IImore than lived Jews 3,500,000 in but90 percent Poland, of them 4. Two Pogroms in Poland backpack from sausage fell remembers that the pavement on the it. MihályFekete, of The eyewitness, backpackthis.forced onRejt Justasthescene when the to refer also mouths, from workers’ the food the who stole black-marketeers, of cruel activity the about the proclamation of statements The this. to function refers market and name Square July riot. itself The 1946 inMiskolc afood was of place lynching,itsthe Búza (Wheat) Gross, 2007p 31. Ibid., p 222. Cichopek,2003 p 221. Natalia Aleksiun, “The Vicious Circle” in Circle” Vicious “The Aleksiun, Natalia Varga, 1986 p 298 and footnote 29. ĝ niadów. 231 , according to Pelle, sugar cubes, cheese and oranges. Whatever it was, itwas it was, Whatever and oranges. cheese cubes, Pelle, sugar to , according 234 However, it is not easy to find any real break in the horrors of the Polish Jews and the State 52 235 The Jewish communities recommended to recommended communities Jewish The ed. by Ezra Mendelsohn (Oxford University Ę 232 fell fell andfood down, opened, out It seems that the Nazi Nazi seemsoccupation the that It ĩ P had to deal P hadto with the 233 áĊ ka, Siedlce ĩ P), CEU eTD Collection picture about the Polish-Jewish relationship in June 1945: “In regard to the attitudes of the attitudes the to “In regard in1945: June relationship Polish-Jewish aboutthe picture athreatening depicts Voivodship,which ofKraków aregional the report Cichopek quotes of Nazi make Poles numerous could myths.occupation believein superstitious these cruelties and sufferings thatonly lasting long extraordinary the andstates circumstances, the libel sheblames accusations, blood post-Holocaust about the writes However, whenMichlic during and right after the war, intomany PolesPolish rejected history. the restoration Since of thepre-war major Jewish threats life. to this self-image were the anti-Semitic actions statements mostly Anna on Cichopek’s studies mostimportant post-Holocaust pogroms in Poland. For the Kraków pogrom, I base my Kraków, a pogrom terrified the Jewish community. This Chapter draws the outlines of the two for the West.” towns that are dangerous for them and where there isno work for them, either for big cities or communitiesheld inKielce,– on May –formulated14-15 it:1945 “Jews should leave small community andmartyrs only”. heroes of community Michlic describes Kraków in 4.1 Pogrom the Polish national mythology,Gross. T. of Jan description the follow which portrayed wartime Poland “as a 242 241 240 239 Brunswick: Rutgers University Press 2003) pp 221-238. (New D.Zimmerman Joshua ed. Aftermath its and Holocaust the Jews During and Poles Memories, Contested 238 Penkalla, 2000 p 243. 237 236 the survivors to move to big cities. Michlic, 2000 A p 56. Michlic,2005 pp 210-214. Michlic,2005 p 211. Gross,2007, pp 83-117. Minutes of the Meeting of Jewish Committees of the Kielce Voivodeship, held on Gross, 14-15 2007p 35. May 1945 in Adam See especially Anna Cichopek, Cracow “The Pogrom of August 1945, A Narrative Reconstruction” in 237 Soon after this proclamation, in one of the largest cities of Poland, in 236 As the minutes of a conference of delegates of Jewish of delegates of a of conference minutes Asthe 239 240 This acceptself-image didnot any inquiry critical 53 238 , while in regard to the Kielce pogrom Kielce the , whileinregardto pogrom I will 242 241 CEU eTD Collection market was the place where bloodthe libel circulated, therefore, notsurprisingly this was also The children. Christian kill Jewsallegedly the that rumors the hereabout informed were was present – someonethe outbreakrarely, of theothers pogrom. It seems thatin justKraków, maybe asinKunmadaras,as themarketa place gainedimportance in First andevery foremost, day – thistherefore was the place more where and almost more ledincidents actual tothe pogrom. everybodypeople Jewswanted him. the help tomurder that stating and for screaming ranout, andafter soon synagogue the boy entered year Christian old thirteen day,On approximately same the an sentiments. anti-Jewish strong created scene already 248 247 246 245 244 p 223. 243 up. him beat and stones the thrown had who boys, the of one caught and, building the excerpt from themilitary report of the pogrom, Polish soldiers of Jewish descent came out of Some sixty Poles abused the ceremony on 11 August 1945 Saturdays, Shabbat. the on Kupa Jewscelebrated objects atthe while other synagogue the same way. Accordingcity. to an of the the Jewishquarter once in KazimierzKupa Quarter, synagogue to nextflea market “victims” grewdayby libel blood day. The spreadmostlyrumor in marketplaces, suchas the alleged the numberof in of the inthe Kraków summer 1945, only were already present mostinsignificantevent, orthe improbable can rumor serious riots.” trigger murdering with combined linger…Robberies occur…An Jews utterly still occupation Polish population Jews,the towards remainsthe Naziinfluences of the during grafted the Cichopek,2003 p 225. Ibid. Central Military Archive, Warsaw, sygn. 1265/336, k. 122-133. in Cichopek, 2003 p 225. Ibid. Cichopek,2003 p 224. Report onthe situation inKraków Province forJune 1945, State Archives, Kraków, II.905 in Cichopek, 2003 244 It became a regular weekly practice that people from the market threw stones and stones threw market from the people that practice weekly regular a became It 248 54 247 As Cichopek argues, these two 243 These rumors 246 This 245 CEU eTD Collection Bandys,August, 11 1945, in Cichopek, 2003 p 227. 253 252 251 250 Cichopek, 2003 p 227. 249 Cichopek quotes report the of NKVD Sovietthe pogrom the on Poles. the of most with trade to them for impossible it made simply hostility general a that mean italsobut can Jewry, Hungarian than the Jewish organizations and other Committee Distribution JewishJoint oftheAmerican support the morethey on mean that relied can It Polish markets. in post-war the of Jewish traders number mentions asignificant scholar form of stones placethe from felltrouble where Kupa constant synagogue, atthebeginning on the in the thrown. However, a striking difference comparing to Hungary is that no were arrested, among them five soldiers andsixmilitiamen. fivesoldiers among them were arrested, violence. Gross, also refers to the Kraków pogrom, after which Region” Military atKraków least twenty-five peopleuniforms enteredmen in three gathered synagogue, the of market from attheentrance the crowd considerable the building. These people who called themselves “the soldiers of the Christians.” This couple of hundred people not only attacked Jewsinside synagogue, the the hundred onlyattacked not Thiscouple people Christians.” of “murdered for the searching the synagoguewhile destroyedanddesecrated Finally thecrowd boiling in me so I simply let it out.” started of Jews hatred old andthe mostly Jews, werecatching soldiers saw the I children. of one “Everybody confessed: civilian the saidtheJews weremurdering around defendants action. libel their menconfirmedwith the blood accusation Cichopek argues,these uniformed Central Military Archive,Warsaw, sygn. 767/322, k. 23-24, protocols from interrogation the of Franciszek Gross, 2007p 81. Cichopek,2003 p 227. Ibid. Report from Poland, Chart 15, A Report from to Seliwanowskii Berija,NKVD SSSR, d.98 (336-337a) in 251 Just as in Hungary, the cooperative behavior of the authorities incited the mob for mob the incited authorities the of behavior cooperative the inHungary, as Just 250 arrested four Jews and walked them to the police four As station. Jewsandwalked them arrested 253 55 252 Tothis, addwhat onecanalso 249 which indicates that when a CEU eTD Collection 262 261 Podstawsi and Edmund Bartos, inCichopek, 2003 p 230. 260 259 258 August, 1945, in Cichopek, 2003 p 229. 257 256 255 254 elements: following draws the historical background of murdersandthe in pogroms Polandpost-war with the Jewry Polish the of situation post-Holocaust immediate the about writing while Michlic, the cultural capital of the country. news of just in as Kraków, Kraków pogrom the regarded aswasthePolish who intellectuals, by the shocked deeply were them Allof of camps. concentration horror the about the reports In those days weremanythere journalists foreign in most of Poland, makethem arriving to pogrom During the otherswerewounded. peoplethree and died numerous Catholicyoulousy while woman, murdered “You shouting: Polishkike, two children.” a example for up beat mistakenly They Jew. be a to thought they who anybody or inhabitants “ robbed. and beaten were of Jews Dozens resided. Jews the where head of mapintheir virtual have had a to rioters the just asinKunmadaras, of Kraków, in Quarter Here, Kazimierz the lootingbut started shelters also community Jewishapartments andbuilding. the around the false rumor even more soldiers joined the rioters, the joined soldiers more even rumor false atlooked for Jews quotes, the militiamenmob.the alsoallegedly shot who simplyby hit were rioters. the or searchedthe buildings through Gross, 2007p 82. Cichopek,2003 p 232. Central Military Archive, Warsaw, sygn. 1265/336, k. 76-81, protocols from Ibid., the 231. interrogation of Jan Ibid., 230. Central Military Archive,Warsaw, sygn. 767/322, protocolsfrom the interrogationof Franciszek Bandys, 13 Ibid. Ibid., p 229. Cichopek,2003 p 228. 255 Those who tried to defend the attacked Jews were also suspected of defend Jews Jewish origin were also who tried attacked the Those to ”, which practically meant looting and assaulting the Jewish the assaulting and looting meant practically which ”, 262 256 They inasked could how disbelief: it happen? According to one of of one whichCichopek According testimonies the to 56 258 many of were drunk.them 261 257 Because of this 259 They 260 254 CEU eTD Collection escalated. From the end of Nazi occupation to the end of 1947 an estimated 1,500-2,000 Jews From 1,500-2,000 end occupation the 1947 anestimated endto the escalated. Nazi of of further violence anti-Jewish the intellectuals, Polish of disbelief and disgrace the Despite identity. patriotic of part stays anti-Semitism value, highest the is Nazism against resistance where country in the fact that the of paradox the He emphasizes Jewishlife. reconstruction pre-war of the refuse his fellow-inhabitants showed that Kraków in happened Wyka the the pogrom that inhishometown. Wyka states pogrom comments new system “Judeo-Communism.” newspapers often stated that the Jews were the political enemies of Poland and they called the The illegal opposition regarded the communist rule as a Jewish takeover. Their pamphlets and 267 266 265 264 263 Darkness) in Odrodzenie, 23 September1945. Kaziemierz Wyka, „Pot Wyka, Kaziemierz Michlic,2005 p 210. Michlic,2005 p 209. Gross, 2007p 28. Michlic,2005 p 208. x x x wanted ahomogenizedwanted nation-state. of prewar Poland. On characteristic as areactionary the anti-Semitism condemned communists the hand,On one other hand, the leaders three four Polishor Jewsheld high-ranking positions. of the party emphasizedcountry with the support of the occupying Soviet army. In the new state administration that they led Party) Workers the Polish Robotnicza: Polska Partia (PPR, Party The Communist oppression. Polish-Soviet suffered acombined Jews. While approximately this 5 %of Poles inthewar died figureis 90 %among Polish was intoahomogenous nation-state. turned The pre-warmultinational Polish state 263 The Germans from Silesia were moved to Germany while the Ukrainians Ċ ga ciemnoty potwierdzona” (Confirmation of the Existence of the Powers of Powers ofthe Existence ofthe (Confirmation potwierdzona” ciemnoty ga 266 To in this, one can add how KazimierzSeptember 1945 265 57 264 267 CEU eTD Collection police investigators and another eight policemen. eight and another police investigators men him allegedly captured who and kepthiminthe cellar.were accompanied bythree They community building at 7 Planty Street, where approximately 180 Jews were living,find to the morning,In Henryk next the B was toodrunk, hence him policethe ordered come backin to morning sober. the although hadhe kidnappedhis Jews the escape,enough father son,wassmart but proud the to that report to He wanted police. the back to went father andhis returned little Henryk later his parents, who gotfrightened and reported the missing of their child tothe police. Two days Henryk B is was As it Kielce disappearance of foreplay the pogrom’s well-known, nine-year-old the Kielce in The Pogrom 4.2 gatheredgrowing under crowd in trees the front of 7 Planty Street. 4 days. hotsummer shade on givepleasant oaks old thewater Alongside town. crosses the creek Silnica where the isStreet, Planty the town of the streets pleasant most of the One Monarchy. Austro-Hungarian the of days happiest the central Poland. The center with its well planned streets and with its 19 20 270 269 268 news andalsotohelp urgedothers liberate the Christian from to children alleged Jewishthe in Poland. were murdered Ibid., p 84. Gross, 2007p 83. Michlic, 2000 p 39, Gross, 2007p 28, pp109-110. th century century happenedEurope, in Kielce,in an otherwise cheerful and welcoming town of á aszczyk. The boy visited his friends at his former village without the permission village permission the without of athisformerfriends visited boy his The aszczyk. 268 The cruelest attack in thoseyears The attack incruelest in general and peacetime á aszczyk, with his father andaszczyk, withhisfather neighbor wentto the their Jewish 58 270 July 1946 wasadaylike this,whena As they were walking, they spread the th century houses recalls 269 CEU eTD Collection 276 275 274 273 272 271 fearproperty original of return the the owners.” property hadin Kielce belonged Jews tothe in past. Thus the new the of possessors Jewish a to high presentmost should bourgeois….It bementioned of petit the that degree among the is “Anti-Semitism them to According itsand circumstances. event onthe reports numerous Buczy leadof the investigators comrade pogrom with The of communist the that Jews hadthe achild. killed captivity. The crowd grew further in front of the building, and a new rumor was circulated Jews already inside, and also helped the soldiers in expelling the Jews. However, Gross However, Jews. the in expelling soldiers the helped also and inside, already Jews passed them to the angry mob. After thevictimsout and later totake started and somewhat building the again, entered soldiers them, the civilians also entered they firedfirst from inside ortheofficials started the shooting. the house and beat the disarmed the Jews, taking their handguns. Itis not clear whether the Jews kept some guns and and Street 7 Planty at house the They entered arrived. ofsoldiers dozens later, Somewhat themselves. house. Jewishcommunity atthe objects and other startedtothrowstones norbuilding any neither Christian andfoundchildren crowd cellar, the military military all inadviser, vain. community police, the army the phoned and hisfor help deputy even from asked Sovietthe mob Jewsfiredthe defend in atthe to themselves. order Ibid., pp 86-87. Gross, 2007p 86. 5.Report by the Brigade: visit to Kielce district, 4-5 July 1946 in Michilc, 2000 B p 263. Gross, 2007pp 85-86. 5.Report by the Brigade: visit to Kielce district, 4-5 July 1946 in Michilc, 2000 B p 263. Ibid. 275 271 Therefore, it is possible that the Jews tried to defend 59 272 273 Although the police searched through the through searched police the Although The above quoted report states also that 274 It is only sure that the head of the 276 It is more important that the Ĕ ski wrote ski CEU eTD Collection 280 279 278 277 the Jews who were forced to go down. in and ordered the Jews outside. Already on both sides of the staircase civilians stood and beat Some Jews locked themselves in a room on the second floor. The soldiers shot at them, broke 4. The formerJewish community house at7Planty Street, Kielce. (aphoto by the author) attack not soldiers building the civiliansdidthe did.underlines the before that community was shot to death community he whilewas shotto phonedfor help. Kielce the of leader the Kahane, Seweryn boots. or shoes their even losing them of many behaviorthe of authoritiesthe as an approval led tofurther aggression. with the crowd” and he estimates that approximately seven Jews were shot by the officials, the by shot were Jews seven approximately that estimates he and crowd” the with Buczy Comrade cooperation with civilians. This was the first wave of the attack, which endedin theJews around attacked andthey order have any not did soldiers the noon. chaotic, scene was Ibid. Ibid., p 90. Ibid., p 89. Ibid., p 88. Ĕ ski reports that he himself saw the “soldiers and policemen were mixing were policemen and “soldiers the saw he himself that reports ski 278 These peoplewere only not lynched butalso robbed, 60 279 As the witnesses recall, the whole 277 Once again, Once 280 CEU eTD Collection 22 May 1944, p 7. labor.” “the general enmityGerman journalist,who the coined term “antisemite” in in1879, writes his powerful pamphlet toward theinstead exploiting others the and especially workers’strata. the As Wilhelm Mahr, the Jews had otherwork, not does of Jewwho traditional the Thisto the picture related isshelter. probably grounds: first,inin lynched Kielcethe Miskolc, forgethe workers Jewstoo who remained inthecommunity in their aversion600 workersleft foundry the in the lunch brakeinorder to part intake pogrom.the to honest 287 4. p time during World War II as well. For example in the Hungarian in the example For well. as II War World during time 286 Modern World 285 284 283 282 281 Jews. twenty fifteen murderedto who factory, was of by The secondperformed Ludwików of workers the forge the attack wave the Jewess!’” hesitatedperpetrators for amoment…but cruelly, womenthe shouted up the ‘Beat worst. When the next victimwith sticks, barsand Among stones. them a group furiousof and unrestrained women was the taken out of armed the people several already “There were depict their role: to an eyewitness quotes Michlic building was a Jewess,Kahane. Mr. the leader, including I saw that the [male] another daily, the class. working the exploits Jewry the how about writes Csík József priest A cigányok megtanulták a zsidóktól a naplopást (The Romas learnt the idleness from the Jews), the from idleness the learnt Romas (The a naplopást azsidóktól megtanulták Acigányok József Csík, A zsidóság a kereszténység ellen…(Jewry the against Christianity…), Wilhelm Mahr, “The Victory of Jewry overGermandom (1879)” in Richard S. Levy, Ibid. Gross, 2007p 91. Michlic, 2000 A p 60. 1.Report by the Brigade: visit to Kielce district, 4-5July 1946 in Michilc, 2000 B p 258. 285 Similar accusations of idleness, as part of from ofidleness,aspart SimilarNazi accusations appeared to propaganda time 282 , (Chicago: University of Illinois, 1991), P 78. Magyar Szó reports that “the Gypsies learnt the idleness from the Jews.” 281 Among the civilians, women acted with extreme cruelty. extreme with acted women civilians, the Among 283 Gross refers to Bo refersto Gross 61 Ī ena Szaynok, who estimates that who estimates ena Szaynok, Esti Újság Esti Újság Esti 286 Antisemitism in the On22May 1944 , on15May 1944 , 15 May 1944, Magyar Szó 284 Just as 287 , CEU eTD Collection 290 289 288 5. Memorial plaque at7Planty Street, Kielce (aphoto by the author) Buczy As comrade in Kielce. Jews the of characterization shared wasacommonly view This masses forty-two bodies were buried on8 July in1946 Kielce. treated.” unjustly and feel masses dissatisfied resorts…The health state’s of visitors the usually Jews…were Rich work. of areout Jews many in Ostrowiec Kielce. They did notwork and only two of them were members of the Communist Party. Also added fifth to this “…Onehundredreport and that eighty in Jews livedon Planty Street shady businesses impunity…These with facts are usedbyhostile political elements.” engaged Theand in Jewsachieve work. arenot by wealth inproductive various engaging problem: weshouldin thefuture, avoid aimto situation theylivein a where onebig group Gross, 2007p 93. 5.Report by the Brigade: visit to Kielce district, 4-5 July 1946 in Michilc, 2000 B p 264. 1.Report by the Brigade: visit to Kielce district, 4-5 July 1946 in Michilc, 2000 B p 259. Ĕ ski finishes hisfirstimportant andmost report on pogrom:the “Regarding the Jewish 62 290 289 Thanks to the dissatisfied 288 The CEU eTD Collection assaults on Polish Jews. In regard to the region of Kielce for example, from March till August pogroms TheseKielce part of stream an almost continuous two –Krakówand –were of political leadership of Poland. because he thoughttown forandhelp his asked incalming masses.bishopdown Thethe rejected request, the that animosity was a natural reaction to the Jewish presence in the 297 Polonsky (New York: Basil Blackwell, 1986), p 195. 296 295 294 293 292 291 local met Kaczmarek. bishop, the Kielce community of Jewish before representatives pogrom, the the weeks June 1946,only Poles of Jewishof appointment the furthermore, descentauthorities, Soviet the with Jews Polish the of tocooperation important positions revivedWorldAfter WarIIthe SovietUnion Polish endangered independence and freedom.The the myth of the JewishPoland, in socialism danger. spreading accusedof were traditionally Jews the political campaigns, During pre-war controlled important posts either in the new state administration or in the Communist Party. descent, as Hilary Minc, Jakub Berman or Roman Zambrowski – born as Rubin Nusbaum – hatred of Jews. of characteristic hadthegeneral opposition Communist the Polish Jews did competitor of Londonbasedthe Polish emigrant government. not have a free choice asa inMoscow Liberation of National Committee Polish the established Stalin, who on the political of asin as support the In over political 1944with early power Poland the communists took map of Poland, since Other the 4.3 Blaming the anti- Ibid. Michal Borwicz “Polish-Jewish relations, 1944-1947” in Ibid., p 4. Michlic, 2000 A p 40. Jonathan Kaufman, Aleksiun,2003 p 158. Michlic,2005 p 2009. A Hole in the Heart of the World 294 consequently it seemed that the Jews politically threatened the state. the threatened Jewspolitically the seemed that it consequently 297 296 They informed him about the hostile atmosphere in the in atmosphere hostile the about him informed They 63 (New York: PenguinBooks, 1998), p 106. The JewsPoland in 291 Natalia Aleksiun argues that argues Aleksiun Natalia ed. by Abramsky, Jachimczyk, 292 Cadres of Jewish Cadresof 295 In 293 CEU eTD Collection That was the case both in Kraków and Kielce, where all Jews were attacked. In contrast, in In contrast, attacked. Jewswere all Kielce, where and inboth Kraków was thecase That can minority. attacked vehicle asageneral rankagainstserve hatred the the of andfile’s makes orfleshChristians’ is blood libel community the whole blood which guilty, why the of consumption the Kendeshows, As Tamás a collective crime. it to refers because survivors, On onehand,bloodthe libel accusation was pretextfor attackinga perfect theHolocaust because itmyth.was thattime apopular entire because tothe it pogroms,referred Holocaust partly community, partly and Jewish accusation play the role of pretext. I believe that the blood libel suited especially to post- the Jewish community from the attackers, and demonstrates their inhuman andtheir nature. demonstrates from attackers, Jewishthe the community 302 301 300 299 298 important still be can it however, explanations, these with agree must local Jewry. the against attacks for the as pretext serve real only they not accusations, libelare blood accusation post-war the that conclusion, scholars,Two Apor in Hungarian the in1996 andthe Gross Polish thesame to 2007, come Accusations 5.1.1 BloodLibelandOther 5.1 Findings 5. Conclusion than 100,000 Jewish citizensleft Poland. pogrom on 4 July drop started amassive1946 asalast in waveof emigration whichmore Jews in wereregistered werekilled. fourteenthirty-two which attacks 1945, Kende, 1995 p 18. Apor,1996 p 28. Gross, 2007p 245. Aleksiun,2003 p 159. Penkalla, 2000 p 237. 299 64 300 As Apor argues the accusation distances accusation the argues Apor As why 298 the blood libel theblood However, the However, 301 One 302 CEU eTD Collection was sold inmore than copies.11,000 by listing analyzing and cases from primitive Ages Middlethe beside libel Tiszaeszlárthe – libel blood reality the the prove of to tries –in Bary which The book case. of Tiszaeszlár the memoirshouse Zoltán chiefinvestigator was the of Bary, twice republished popular who the 306 305 child the that (Henryk B Cz of Bishop much thatthe belief so, Catholicso partof the becameanintegrated The myth WarWorld II. before already dailies and in periodicals popular were regularly published 304 303 long of anda were episodes series. Kielce Kraków many cases the perpetrators Quitecontext. in opposite life, of everyday violence anti-Jewish and in was part Poland the acted as defenders of is Kunmadaras violence. of casesin unique Hungary,one itvery the this rarely generated Christian children. Henceitmust libel However, myth be blood although inthe that was apopular underlined post-war the pogroms in from and Jewshis blood the beenhadarm.”that hadinfact maltreated, taken pogrom, Jews itused so bloodthe libel legend. In 1942 andinfor example,1944, the todistanceshared knowledge. Nazi In Hungary, andghettoize wanted the the propaganda commonly the of libelwaspart blood the hand, other era, onthe post-war immediate In the victims. possible the of out persons Jewish the selected crowd the out, points Bibó István as cases, Hungarian the Telegram by VictorCavendish, 28 August 1946, in Michlic, 2000 B p 57. Michlic, 2000 B p 56. László Karsai, “Bary József vizsgálóbíró emlékiratainak sorsa” Bibó, 1984p275. Ċ stochowa himself told to the English ambassador the following: “there was some proof 303 á aszczyk), whose alleged maltreatment by Jews provoked the Kielceby the Jews maltreatment provoked whosealleged aszczyk), 304 In Poland, cases and details of libel blood the legend 65 Élet és Irodalom , 30 January 2004, p 8. Püski publishing 306 305 CEU eTD Collection craftsmen, amerchant, a person from the shop committee, an under aged and a criminal. mentions forThe officersMÁV,also four public Varga worked company. the railway intellectuals. or wereofficers and ten wereforge-workers seventeen thirty-fivedefendants 307 woman. one wasonly there of thirty-five, locomotive engineer, and afifteen-year-old boy. Some of them were of Roma origins, and out a operators, crane two officers, railway two acarpenter-trainee, laborers, unskilled fitters, defendants, togetherwith their forgeengineto be professions. Mostof workers, them reported indictment called end weekly the the At of 1946, against5.1.2 RiotersinMiskolc the MiskolcJews notdid workbut still lived on better standard than majority the of inhabitants.the rioters.in 1945. thirds of It Hungarian the Jews living on lived countrysidethe exclusively from Joint’s the aid also publishedhelp strengthened Committee’s Distribution Joint Jewish American the foremost, and first the organizations, Jewish impression the that thenames were partof Hungary.Polandand inboth Thesupport international the propaganda the Jews were in privilegedlabor” honest of to “aversion Jewish the Mahr, Wilhelm the position. thirty-five More than of in words the Aswas above demonstrated, it Jews. lifestyle of parasitic allegedly the two as characterized bealso can which accusation Another 310 309 308 Richard S. Levy (Chicago, University of Illinois, 1991), p 78. Wilhelm Mahr, The Victory of Jewry over Germandom (1879) in Varga, 1986 p 309. VII. 1946. December 15 inDemokrácia, története” hiteles lincselés “Amiskolci Karády,2002 p 48. 308 Both in Kielce and in Kunmadaras, the perpetrators complained thethat in about perpetrators BothinKielce Kunmadaras,the and Demokrácia 309 66 Similarly, according to János Varga, out of collective 307 published interesting published of parts the Antisemitism in the Modern World and other accusations ofidleness accusations and other and traditional one refers to refers one , ed. by 310 CEU eTD Collection profiles arethefollowings: accessories” in accessories” Studying the files of first trial pogrom the of Kunmadaras the (“Trial andZsigmondof Tóth 5.1.3 RiotersinKunmadaras 313 312 311 Ern they however, think that marketeer, RejtSándor think intostill that life.They their everyday to reintegrate arediligent freedin andthey forge the reports that managed workers their already have work hisfifty monthly salary in was reducedto percentalso theperiod of The author custody. also includes an interview with one of the released rioters: he does not feel guilty, article home. from The wereaway people while these lot a suffered adding defendants the of families that the black-marketerrs beforeAs the riots – welcomes the return of the workers.months. six of duration the As he sees, the arrested people, since the trial was once again postponed, and the custody was lawful only for audience at Zoltan Tildy,had an women same 1947, the In onJanuary, middle the workers. thearrested release the president of workers Hungary.visited Tivadar Pártay, Member of Parliament, and askedhim intervene to in order to Finally the female forge article, the eighty According to defendants. release the of these published about court released the eighteenin Budapest September, 1946. to eighteen were transported in Those custody. were eighteen Out of people thirty-five Ibid. “Abíróság kiengedte mind a tizennyolc letartóztatottat” in FáklyaApril 20 1947, p 3. Ibid., p 308. Demokrácia x Their role was mostly limited to anti-Semitic speeches on the first day of day onthefirst political speeches of anti-Semitic to limited Theirwas mostly role intellectual threeprofessions. with only thereAmong fifty-five were the defendants writes, István Oszip, the communist lord lieutenant of Miskolc – who arrested Trials ofthePeople’sTrials Tribunal 312 311 InFáklya newspaperon 20 April was 1947 areport Ę Jungreisz was innocent. was Jungreisz 67 , Budapest Archives, V. 56032) the rioters’ 56032) the Archives,, Budapest V. 313 Ę wasablack- CEU eTD Collection Archive) 315 314 6. TheDefendants of theKunmadaras Pogrom in The Defendants of the Kunmadaras Pogrom in Képes Figyel Files of Zsigmond Tóth’s Trial in Trials of the People’s Tribunal, Budapest Archives, V56032, pp 1-9, p 18. x x x x x x the lower social strata were violence.in involved lowerthe physical social strata To summarize the above mentioned data theaboveTo summarize mentioned etc. a baker-trainee, shoemaker-trainees, were there as trainees: worked belonged forty-nine Some the 18-35age-group. of them juveniles, to outof thirty-five five lessfive wereold. years Besidethese than eighteen defendants Concerning age, Twenty out of forty-nine were women,most of them housewives. Twenty-four out of forty nine were agricultural day-laborers. property or wealth. Out of the remaining forty-nine people, forty-one were poor and did not possess any accused andmurderers. asaccessories Three policemen to were also the condemned aggression. the into involved directly were three the of None Jewry. local the of expulsion demonstrations, toleading inter-party or meeting, the decided aboutthe which 68 Képes Figyel 314 , it seems that mostly younger members of Ę , 10 July 1946, p 1. Ę 315 (Collection of the Jewish Museum’s Jewish of the (Collection CEU eTD Collection the murderedthe children. revenge for take highit time and was to by Jews, the her wasmurdered day child market that 322 321 riot. the andleaderof initiator wasthe woman the To birth to adaughter in Streetprison,in Markó the Budapest. quotes becomes clear, that the strikes spread to other firms of the cotton and sewing sectors, firms cotton the of other spreadto strikes becomes thatthe clear, quotes Party. Communist local the secretary of the they attacked strike the during Moreover, Kielce trial. the of sentences the for bystrikes reacted factories Amongstones. them offuriousa group was women and unrestrained worst. the and bars sticks, with armed people several already it: “There were formulates eyewitness It seems that in Kielce too, just as in Kunmdaras,5.1.4 RiotersinPoland women acted with extreme cruelty. As the primitivism, so much so, that it was close to debility.” .Ę noteworthy mentioningnoteworthy in that 320 Budapest. The them have shoes.Many of them youngare 14-16-year-old pimpled peasants, children.” groomed, some even with new perms in their hair. Most of the men are shabby, only a few of young, male “The well- of picture opposed women the the are pretty, defendants: and female 319 318 317 316 of correspondent The Michlic, 2000 B p 261. Michlic, 2000 A p 60. Ibid., Ötvös, 1990 p 85, Vörös, 1994 p 73, and Ötvös,1990 pp 85-86. “Gyereket az szült egyik kunmadarasi vádlott” in Független Magyarország, 16 December1946, p4. “Ami a kunmadarasi nagy f Mid szegi’s documentary movie that Eszter Kabai Tóth “stood on degree of lowest Kabai on “stood Eszter moviethe that Tóth szegi’s documentary Független Magyarország Ę n avér significant role of womensignificant role of : Documentary directed by K 319 Új szó Új Ę Pál Drukker, the police investigator of the pogrom, stated in Edit tárgyalás tudósításából kimaradt” in Új Szó, 7July 1946, p 3. reported on 16 December 1946 that one of gave defendants the of one that on16December 1946 reported , one of the most influential Hungarian dailies at the time, the at dailies Hungarian influential most the of one , à one can add that Eszter Kabai Tóth, a thirty-six-year-old ód Ę Ĩ szegi 1994, Edit, Budapest. , female the workers of Scheiblerthe and Grohman Mid Ę 69 n a vér 318 She reportedly shouted at the start of the : Documentary directed by K 320 317 322 In the reports what Michlic what reports Inthe Ę szegi 1994, Edit, 321 316 It is It CEU eTD Collection ranking policemen.” peasantor working-class background andoflow education. Among low- them were two of “were all Kielce pogrom the deathafter right to ninemensentenced the Joanna Michlic, to person. an injured in evenhit who sameplace the the railway worker Jews, or the nurses of the St. Lazar Hospital at Kopernika Street who made remarks at the wounded and sentenced ten sevenand ten accused uptoinjail. years sentenced decidedin Court case the Military District Fifth the participation, soldiers’ of the As aresult 330 329 328 327 326 325 324 323 illiterate.” andone school, ofelementary four grades or only completed three who tradesmen “workers, uneducated: all were they of three exception with the that stresses people,she arrested twenty-five the jobs. permanent no had who lumpenproletariats, crowd the of members the later shecalls Somewhat WarWorld II. after in Kazimierz quarter, Jewish Cracow`s most newcomers, of thatin thinks peoplesettledCichopek herself these who werepoor the Jews. attacked people in uneducated simple, Kraków arguesthat Anna Cichopek pogrom suffered execution. the of perpetrators in sentenced the case vengeance for instrike women called the Furthermore, where women worked, but did not reach plants where the workers’ majority was men. Michlic, 2000 A p 52. Gross, 2007p 82, Cichopek, 2003 p 232. Cichopek,2003 p 234. Cichopek,2003 p 230. Cichopek,2003 pp 234-235. Cichopek,2003 p 231. Cichopek,2003 pp 221-222. Ibid., p 262. 330 326 There were twelve officers among the twenty-five defendants. 323 70 328 In a broader sense the rioters include 325 While describing 329 According 327 324 CEU eTD Collection 335 334 333 332 331 local Jewsin 1944. from had had already filesbecausethey police stolen housesof goods closed the deported the people these several of in that documentary, the states Kunmadaras, villagers from arrested Kunmadaras. in back arrived they when empty were houses their interview, his in says Farkas László As 5.1.5 EconomicThreat: Buczy justrole in aggression, interpretation the asitAs in of pogroms. comrade appears the Polish issues of the communist newspaper as their permission for judgment, when the other the when judgment, for permission their as newspaper communist the of issues the showed rioters the Therefore, crowd. the instigated interviews and speeches politicians’ moreover, in the Polish with rioters, the cooperated persons pogromsand armed cases,uniformed Inmost Kunmadaras. even their violentmilitiamen. behavior incited the crowd. among five andsix them soldiers were arrested, least people twenty-five which at In Miskolc, Beside the two policemen 5.1.6 RoleofAuthorities executed after Kielce, Gross refersthe economic tension was also higher than elsewhere in the immediate post-warto era. the Kraków pogrom, halfHolocaust. Kunmadaras’ while morethe survived Jewry than of after places.Almost Jews all from countrysidein were Auschwitz Hungarian the in1944, killed In in Kunmadarasaddition, ratiothe survival wasmuch of higher in than the surrounding the return of the original owners.” Kielce Jewsinthe to hadbelonged Thus thenewfear of past. the possessors Jewish property Gross, 2007p 81. Ötvös, 1995p20. 5.Report by the Brigade: visit to Kielce district, 4-5 July 1946 in Michilc, 2000 B p 263. Interview by the author, 22 May 2009, Budapest. Mid Ę Ĕ n avér ski’s report declares ski’s report in July be1945: “Itshould most mentioned thatof property the in 335 : Documentary directed by K 331 One can add to this, that there were three policemen among the defendants of defendants the among werethreepolicemen there this, that addto Onecan Police investigator Pál Drukker, who took part in the questioning of the inof questioning part the took who PálDrukker, Policeinvestigator 332 It seems obvious that the rioters’ economic interest played an important 333 Ę szegi 1994, Edit, Budapest. 71 334 Consequently, here Consequently, CEU eTD Collection the others for long stays inprison. long stays for others the sentenced whileit defendants of three punishment capital the contained People’s Tribunal the perpetrators. the victims to over the handed wheresoldiers perpetrators. Furthermore, none of higherthe military officers were charged after the pogrom, of consideration number the into seemtaking high, of Kielce maynot that executions nine the although Poland, in than in Hungary lighter seemed trials the of sentences The prejudice. the Court significantly mitigated sentences. the significantly mitigated Court anniversary 1848revolution.the of 100 the of occasion the on amnesty by the All were annulled all.charges at happen not did it eventually that times many so postponed was trial rioters’ the leaders, Communist trial showsmurdersmost Jews of left 1,500-2,000 the The unanswered. turmoil and strike after Kielcethe how dangerous it was to condemn the rioters. asclues. headquarters anditfrom house all victim’sthe policemen localsausage took confiscated tothe police accusation of kidnapping children. Christian was in This Kunmadaras, casealsothe where the accusations.the in Thathappened Kielce,wheretheyseriously examined theobviously false 343 342 341 340 339 338 337 336 stop lynching.politicians the to tried Ibid., Ötvös p87. p 77. 1994 Vörös, Varga, 1986 pp 309-310. Michlic, 2000A pp 52-53, Michlic, 2000 B p 261. Ibid., p 158. Gross, 2007p 157. Pelle,1995 p 160. Varga, 1986 p 297. 338 337 As Gross argues, the official intervention in these cases confirmed 342 341 However, this judgment was revoked and Supreme was revoked the However, judgment this 336 Kunmadaras is a special case, since the first sentence of sentence thefirst case,since isaspecial Kunmadaras The police especially often showed signs of sharing of signs showed often especially police The 343 72 339 340 However, in post-war Poland,in However, post-war In Miskolc, thanks to the to thanks Miskolc, In th CEU eTD Collection 347 346 p 223. 345 -“On the basis, that you are decent men. You believe in blood basis?” libel on what wonder legend.” I gaffer, -“Well, -“Sir Rubbers and Murderers,you are acquitted!” assaultstarted. first where the libel blood the wastheplace,to and circulated nextfrom Kupathe synagogue rumor where fleamarket the scene. Kraków, was animportant In market four cases,the out of In three the 5.1.7 The Market 344 provision. basic the buy could hardly wives workers’ Búza Square,were from forgevictims Jewishusually tothe dragged their the whom traded, findmarketfamilies whowent andday-laborers to the work. women attendees: for tobuyfood their weretheregularwanted marketwho perpetrators the 7. A caricature of the Kunmadaras trial's sentence Fekete, 1983 p 124. Apor,1996 p 18. Report onthe situation inKraków Province forJune 1945, State Archives, Kraków, II. 905 in Cichopek, 2003 Ludas Matyi , 8 December 1948. Translation of the caption: “After Kunmadaras” “After caption: of the Translation 1948. 8 December , 345 In Kunmadaras, the actual pogrom started there, and mostand of there, started actual pogrom InKunmadaras,the 344 73 (Collection of the Jewish Museum’s Archive) 347 The criminal market behavior is also behavior market criminal The 346 In Miskolc, the perpetrators CEU eTD Collection Polish Catholic Church, Cardinal Hlond declared seven days after the Kielce pogrom, that the that Kielcepogrom, the sevendaysafter declared Hlond Cardinal Church, Catholic Polish The violencejustification headof itselftoo. the andprovided politicians’ provoked presence 354 353 352 351 350 349 348 tobehanged!” has democracy our base of economic the undermine to wants whoever forint, the with speculates “Whoever parties.” political the of by initiation moreover, permission, indictmenton 10 November 1946:“the movementof happened forgethe workers bythe the daily, Party’s Smallholders mad.made the hungry rioters In food-riots. of Kunmadaras, the women eggs, destroyed the signs showed famine. Inmanyoccasions these of pogroms danger problems increasedthe and economic the Hungary drought the and Poland.The In both 1945-46, war destroyed black-marketeers. the against campaign political-economic Communists’ in bythe Jews.revoked the Hungary, was This accusation against a traditional and collective fuelling anti-Semitic sentiments. instigated black-marketeersandcampaign pogromsforint-worseners the by the against the Hungary, In contradictory. is pogroms the of outbreak the in role politicians’ The 5.1.8 The Role ofPoliticians Rejt Szabó, 1995 p 136. 1995 Szabó, Kisújság 10 November1946, p 6. Apor,1996 pp 5-7. Varga, 1986 p 298. Varga, 1986 p 298. Ötvös, 1990p84, Vörös, 1994 p 73. Apor, 1996: pp 6-7. Ę ’s backpack, before they lynched him and his colleague. 354 350 – gave clear instructions in this case. In Poland, the Jewish the Poland, In case. this in instructions clear –gave They sausagetrampled the and sugarwhichfell of out 352 Kisújság Especially the case of Miskolc is interesting. The is interesting. Miskolc case of the Especially quotes the following from following quotes the prosecutor’s the from 74 349 in Miskolc, the spectacle of food 351 353 Rákosi’s infamous– words 348 CEU eTD Collection York: Wiley, 1994). 358 357 356 355 camps concentration personally RooseveltWorldWargovernmentduringwho reported existencethe II,of the to Jan Karski’sits reputation statue of hostility against– Nowadays, Kielcea visibly makes Jews.memberefforts to process the memoryOne of the pogrom ofand to changethe moves ofof intoreconciliation a mass themovement, and party resistance isunits the all overerection the country Communistburial organized thevictims’ Party ceremony,on 8 July 1946, hadof to condemn anti-Semitism. and These days,politician in Kraków and in Miskolc there is no commemoration of the riots. In Kielce, the Speech Rabbi’s of the Echo 5.2 The of the emigrant Polish reign. Communist Jewish the with dissatisfaction Poles’ the of expressions the only were attacks the plaque is Lech Wa plaqueisLech the of initiator the that says also It one. previous the as year same in the that means which events, and English this– that commemorating wasplaced plaque onthe44th anniversary of the memory of the Jews murdered on 4th of July 1946.” The second indicates – in Polish, Hebrew is“to the it.of It dedicated bilingual isDavid on Star first with plaque a from the 1990 Communism. The fallof the after building the on wereplaced fourplaques all Interestingly, There are already four of them, reminding the traveler of tattoos on a criminal’s body. mayserve purpose. the same Planty Street 7 at onthebuilding memorial numberplaques of Nissenbaum Foundation. Another plaque was placed on the house by the citizens of Kielce in Kielce of citizens the by house the on placed was plaque Another Foundation. Nissenbaum See: E. Thomas Wood, Stanis Ibid., p 266. Michlic, 2000 B p 267. Michlic, 2000 A p 48. 355 358 – in the infamous Planty Street. Besides commemorating, the growing the commemorating, Besides Street. Planty infamous –inthe áĊ sa, the leader of the Solidarity movement, but the sponsor is the sponsor butthe movement, leader Solidarity the of sa, the á aw M. Jankowski: Karski: 75 How One ManTried to Stop the Holocaust 356 which turned which (New 357 CEU eTD Collection 360 359 inalthough, printedversionthe his speech of instead of expressionthe “ “ murdered József escaped later said thatthe Rosinger the testimonies rabbi to According Jews. murdered the of behalf on of apology gesture locals’ accept the to guard. ranking security and a high- Kardos rabbi Kertész, Péter spokesman, Péter the Zoltai, Gusztáv chairman, Hungarian Jewish from Community (MAZSIHISZ), fourwhom persons the arrived: of the representatives invited they ceremony the amemorial. To erected of Kunmadaras years somewhatmore pogrom On 1994,forty-eight the inhabitants than after the 30 October prayeris following:the II’s prayer whichheinserted into the Western Wall in Jerusalem in 2000.The of text the Jewish following1996, onthe50thanniversarymemory with “to the riot, the words: the of the of Jews drank blood. Christian children’s robbed the houses of the who werepeople there andhe that said fiftyyears earlier, exactly hadhappened Holocaust deported Jews, and the that heis He remembered since a Jew. be inKunmadaras, he to isscared four that times even there were people his rabbi repeated in speechthe theaudience.In were present several Jews, who of Hungarian who shouted that the notonly alsoevoked but emotional Kunmadaras, among thepeopleamong reactions of the Péter Kardos, “A beszéd” (The Speech), (The “A beszéd” Kardos, Péter Interview with Péter Kertész by the author, Szentendre, 15 May 2009. pogrom’s victims.” The most recentone is from John 2006, proclaiming Pope Paul wish wish to commitourselves to genuine brotherhood with the people of the Covenant. we forgiveness, your asking and suffer, to yours of children these caused have history of course the in who of those behavior the by saddened deeply are We Nations. the God ofour you fathers, Abraham chose and hisdescendants your to bring Name to 359 As a part of Kardosspeech, gaveAs ceremony,the of a rabbi which apart Új Élet 360 Rabbi Kardos revealed that he did not have the right the have not he did that revealed Kardos Rabbi , 1 December 1994 p 5. 76 from you from from you from ” one can ” one ”, CEU eTD Collection victims were everywhere. And in every temple and at every plaque we remember them by them we every remember plaque And inevery at and temple wereeverywhere. victims was argues:finally: Kardos speech of “Let’s harsh author Asthe declare rabbi and offensive. Four days later, in the same Jewish atonement.is It striking that the priest does not talk about the victims atall. Rather he asks all of symbol the became Kunmadaras of name the that declared time that rabbi another him, memorial Holocaust years ceremony, which happened eight before (in According to 1986). the recalls instead Kardos, speech of the refer not to does latter The LászlóÖtvös. of priest thewords andThe authorquotes speech of the becamewho rabbi Kardos, hatred. of victims various speeches. The mayor of the village, Imre Kemecsi apologizes and remembers those 365 364 363 362 of Kunmadaras. Mayor by the owned 361 village” forleaving Kunmadaras. locals called proclamationthe made by inter-party the onthe gathering day in pogrom,the of whichthe those Jews whothose did nothingstop to pogrom.the in RabbiKardos, his recalled speech’sclosing part, “who could not adopt“ read themselves to the democratic life of the Néplap daily, local the day, next the On Gentleman” –finished –“Let rabbiKardos me not beonly scared, buttobe disgusted too.” and “Dear Ladies victims. tothe forevents the passedresponsibility the perpetrators forehead murderers. on the the of “de” abbreviation, “Félek, mert Kunmadarason vagyok” (I am scared because I am in Kunmadaras) am in I because scared am (I vagyok” Kunmadarason mert “Félek, abbreviation, “de” Ibid. Ibid. Speech), (The “A beszéd” Kardos, Péter Interview with Péter Kertész by the author, Szentendre, 15 May 2009, handwritten version of speech the from here from , 31 October 1994, p3. 1994, October , 31 brethrens ”. and Hungarian 361 However, in both versions, he declared that the sign of Cain stays forever stays Cain of sign the that he declared versions, in both However, Új Néplap compatriots 362 Új Néplap 363 Új Élet He added that this sign stays on the forehead of even In the rabbi’s interpretation that meant that the that meant that interpretation rabbi’s the In somebody under the name ”b.gy.” states that the that states ”b.gy.” name the under somebody , 1 December 1994 p 5. todo theirbest for the rise of Hungary. reports the event and publishes excerpts from 77 365 Új 364 CEU eTD Collection 371 1995, p 17. Miskolc, “Jewish lords made other Jewsbeat madeJews.” lords other “Jewish Miskolc, origin ofthe leaders hisparty by statinginand concludes story just Kunmadaras, that asin campaigns of the Hungarian Communist Party led to the pogrom. He refers to the Jewish 370 369 demand. the butrefused they Nagy, János teacher of the acquittal the in getting assist to Jews the asked kindly locals the that was pogrom the of background also comments on the memorial celebration. As the author, Béla Gy Not surprisinglyNot the plaque. when hespokethat theinhabitants Kunmadaras sufficientmoneyof donated memorial for the were children at the timerabbi whenthepogrom know happened, had Kardos that and to Kunmadarasif hedidnotcome He for atonement. members addsmost that of audience the he Heaskstherabbiwhy came to bludgeons. not flowers and locals of were hands there the 1994. rabbi’s speech. Ferenc Czet the on comment to had they that felt audience ceremony’s memorial the of members Several the rabbi did notbring forgiveness even after forty-eight years.” 368 article entitled “Kel entitled article 367 366 head.” bowing our Ibid. Béla Gy Béla Ibid. Ferenc Czet Ferenc János Jurkovics, “Kel Jurkovics, János “b.gy.” abbreviation, “Fekete lyuk” (Black hole) (Black lyuk” “Fekete abbreviation, “b.gy.” 368 369 In this, the retired merchant says that rabbi Kardos had no reason to fear sinceinthe hadnoreason to rabbi Kardos says that merchant retired Inthis, the Ę ri, “A tudós f tudós “A ri, Ę , “Ki fél és undorodik Kunmadarason” és undorodik fél “Ki , 366 Ę Magyar Fórum Ę Gy Ę gy On the same day in the newspaper rabbi kaddist mondott egy keresztény asszony halálakor” asszony keresztény egy mondott kaddist rabbi Ħ Ħ lölet” (Rising Hatred) Telegráf, 4 November 1994, p 6. 1994, 4 November Telegráf, Hatred) (Rising lölet” lölet” (Rising Hatred) writes: “the audience soon had to realize, that to had soon audience “the writes: Hatred) (Rising lölet” Ę ’s letter was ’s letter in published local the , leading, journal of the Hungarian extreme right that time, Új Néplap 78 Új Néplap 371 , 4November1994, p 3. , 31October1994, p 5. Telegráf, 367 370 Új Néplap As he argues, the political János Jurkovics in his Magyar Fórum , on 17 November 17 on , Ę ri explains the , 5January CEU eTD Collection memorial monument in the center of the cemetery. On it, one can read the names of all local all of names the read can one it, On cemetery. the of center in the monument memorial isinteresting Holocaust the object the most However, has histomb. Rosinger whereJózsef Jewishcemetery, the abandoned She opens weretaken. where Jews injured the headquarters In 2009, Marikaand Kohnis She last only the Jew inKunmadaras. shows formerthe police The sideother struggle also tofind answers. inhabitantsthe of Kielce and is Kunmadaras toprocess hard memoriesthe of pogroms.the forfurther action. Beth Din’s pleasure – the two sides managed tocome an to agreement, hence there isno need Kardos. This time the again happendemand Kertész to theBethDin didturned notto Péter from action rabbi court rejected his it hisspeech. demand, Since of misunderstanding the openly clarify going to rabbiwas the agreed that stating that on assimilation readiness for the last trial day – for the his answer he explains the negative Jewish reactions to his to his henegative speech Jewishreactions as the answer explains 376 375 374 373 Community, Jewish the of journal official in the attack the to reacts Kardos Rabbi sued rabbiKardos atthe Beth Din, of rabbinical the Hungarianthe court Jewish Community. not stay forever with the community of locals. the stay of with community the forevernot Kertész, who also thanks for the memorial plaque and rabbithat Kardos expressesshould beexamined bypsychiatrists. his belief that the crime will localsin the rabbi’sspeech.Heproposes ceremony takingthe part reacting for tothe and not plaque. memorial the for erecting themayor thanks 372 periodical werepublishedinthe letters All Kunmadaras. three Three Jewish participants of the memorial ceremony also wrote letters to the mayor of The letter of the Chief Rabbi’s Office to Gusztáv Zoltai, copy at the“El author. Kardos, Péter Ibid. Ibid. “Szelet vetett a f vetett “Szelet Ę Ę rabbi beszéde, de a vihar elmaradt” avihar de beszéde, rabbi 376 szó” (Foreword), szó” Ibelieve that the answer of the rabbinical courtis symbolic. Not only for and first and foremost, Új Élet , 1 December 1994 p 4. 79 Jászkunság fear 374 372 . 375 The last letter’s author, Mr. Kertész, author, letter’s last The Péter Tamás rather says thank you to , XL., No. 6 (December-January.) 373 At the Beth Din Kardos andKertész BethDinKardos Atthe The third letter came from Péter came from letter The third Jászkunság . János Quittner János . identity search Új Élet . In , CEU eTD Collection 377 community. Jewish debate overassimilation sparkedmemorial inthe ceremony within aheated Kunmadaras the Hungary in while Jews, the of tragedy a than rather nation Polish the of a stigma became phenomenon, andas frequent theleft Poland.a consequence, Kielcepogrom Jews The lynch law. While Hungaryin pogrom the post-war was unique,in becamePoland it amore countries. The society got accustomed to violence that is why ordinary people could exercise mass murder incarried Theinstitutionalized every out public killings. happened day both public buy executions. to to tickets everybody wanted In 1946 SándorMárai, famous the author, noticedinHungarian in his diary that those days The words proclaim 1946. he died that asamartyr. his of death: date the indicates away, meters which hasonly atomb twenty József Rosinger hand other the On Auschwitz. in perished people the among hidden are they hand, one On Jewish victims of WorldWar II. Among them there are the three victims of the 1946 pogrom. Sándor Márai, Sándor Napló 1945-1957 [Diary 1945-1957] (Budapest: HelikonKiadó, 1999), p32. 80 377 In militia units and Poland partisan CEU eTD Collection Northeast and East Hungary] Osiris,Northeast 1999. Budapest: Csíki, Tamás. http://icj.huji.ac.il/conference/papers/Anna%20Cichopek.pdf Pogroms inPogroms Kraków and Topol’ Cichopek, Anna. “A Case for Comparative Perspective in Polish-Jewish History: Property and Zimmerman, NewBrunswick RutgersUniversity Press, 2003:221-238. Contested Memories, PolesandJews DuringtheHolocaustandits Aftermath Pogrom inCichopek, Anna.“The Cracow of 1945,ANarrative August Reconstruction” Polonsky: Borwicz,“Polish-Jewish Michal. 1944-1947”in relations, ed. Abramsky, Jachimczyk, Assimilation, Anti-Semitism] Budapest: 1984. Gondolat, After 1944] in After Péter. 1944] ed.Hanák, in [TheJewish1944 után” Hungary Question “Zsidókérdés Magyarországon István.Bibó, Berkley: University Californiaof Press, 2007. Biale, David. Vol.No. 7-8 19, (July-August,2008): 94-95. Kunmadaras, 1946] Pogrom “A Péter. of Apor, pogrom,kunmadarasi 1946”[The Democracy: Kunmadaras, 1946] of 1946”[TheBuilding People's “A the Kunmadaras, népi Péter. 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