Communism’s Jewish Question Europäisch-jüdische Studien Editionen European-Jewish Studies Editions Edited by the Moses Mendelssohn Center for European-Jewish Studies, Potsdam, in cooperation with the Center for Jewish Studies Berlin-Brandenburg Editorial Manager: Werner Treß Volume 3 Communism’s Jewish Question Jewish Issues in Communist Archives Edited and introduced by András Kovács An electronic version of this book is freely available, thanks to the support of libra- ries working with Knowledge Unlatched. KU is a collaborative initiative designed to make high quality books Open Access. More information about the initiative can be found at www.knowledgeunlatched.org This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 License, as of February 23, 2017. For details go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. ISBN 978-3-11-041152-2 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-041159-1 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-041163-8 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress. Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Cover illustration: Presidium, Israelite National Assembly on February 20-21, 1950, Budapest (pho- tographer unknown), Archive “Az Izraelita Országos Gyűlés fényképalbuma” Typesetting: Michael Peschke, Berlin Printing: CPI books GmbH, Leck ♾ Printed on acid-free paper Printed in Germany www.degruyter.com Table of Contents Abbreviations vii Introduction: The “Jewish Issue” and the East-Central European Communist Systems 1 Continuity of the “Jewish question” and antisemitic discourse after the Holocaust 2 Post-war and Stalinist Communist policy and the continuity of the “Jewish question” 5 Jewish policy of the Communist states in the post-Stalinist period 9 About the collection 15 I Communist Policies and the Jewish State Introduction 21 Documents 32 1 On Emigration 32 2 Meeting with Golda Meir 34 3 Second Meeting with Golda Meir 37 4 Negotiations on Compensation with Israel 39 5 On the Israeli Legation in Budapest 41 6 Negotiations on Compensation with Israel 42 7 Negotiations on Compensation with Israel 44 8 The Condition of Hungarian-Israeli Relations 51 9 Current Issues of Hungarian-Israeli Relations 53 10 Problems Concerning Relations with Israel 55 11 Relations Between Israel and the Socialist Countries in 1966 58 12 Principles of the Relations with Israel 62 13 Hungarian-Israeli Economic Relations 66 14 Summary of Hungarian-Israeli Relations 1967 69 15 Trade Relations with Israel 72 II The Eichmann Affair Introduction 77 Documents 84 1 Minutes of the Political Committee of the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party 84 2 Tasks after the Decision of the Political Committee 87 3 Tasks in Connection with the Eichmann Case 89 vi Table of Contents 4 Consultation Issues in Respect of the Eichmann Case 92 5 Official Request of the Legation of Israel 95 6 Position of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic of the Case of Eichmann 97 7 On Co-Operation with Israel 102 8 On Measures to be Taken in the Eichmann Case 106 9 On the Kasztner Issue 108 10 Letter of S. Mikunis, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Israel 110 11 B’nai B’rith Report on Media Coverage of the Eichmann Case in Communist Countries 112 III The Six-Day War and its Aftermath Introduction 129 Documents 140 1 Telephone Conversation between János Kádár and Leonid Brezhnev 140 2 Soviet Ambassador’s Meeting with János Kádár 141 3 Telephone Conversation between János Kádár and Leonid Brezhnev 142 4 Soviet Ambassador’s Meeting with Zoltán Komócsin 144 5 Information from Leonid Brezhnev’s Personal Secretary 145 6 Soviet Ambassador’s Meeting with János Kádár 146 7 Message from Deputy Head of the Foreign-Affairs Department of the CPSU 148 8 On the Moscow Meeting 149 9 Telephone Conversation between János Kádár and Leonid Brezhnev 157 10 Minutes of the Meeting of the Political Committee 158 11 The Presidium of the CC CPČZ on the War in the Middle East 171 12 Message from Deputy Head of the Foreign Affairs Department of the CPSU 178 13 Information from the Soviet Embassy to János Kádár 179 14 Leonid Brezhnev’s Telegram to János Kádár 180 15 Minutes of the Meeting of the Political Committee on 18 July 1967 181 16 Report on the Opinion of Members of the Hungarian Jewish Congregation from an Anonymous Informer 186 17 Report on the Mood within the Hungarian Jewish Religious Denomination 190 18 The Political Committee’s Resolution on Hungarian-Israeli Relations 193 19 Proposal on Hungarian-Israeli Relations 198 20 Appraisal of Draft CC Proposal on Restoring Hungarian-Israeli Diplomatic Relations 211 Table of Contents vii IV The International Jewish Organisations, the Jewish Community and the State Introduction 219 Documents 229 1 Conversation with Meir Vilner, Member of the ICP CC 229 2 Proposal for the Exit of the Hungarian Jewish Denomination from the World Jewish Congress 233 3 The Aims of the World Jewish Congress with Regard to the Hungarian Jewish Denomination 235 4 On the Foreign Relations of the Hungarian Jewish Religious Denomination 238 5 On the Fifth Conference of the World Jewish Congress in Brussels 242 6 The Fifth Conference of the World Jewish Congress 246 7 The Foreign Relations of the Jewish Religious Denomination 249 8 On the Visit to Hungary of Dr Nahum Goldmann and his Colleagues 252 9 Conversation with Dr Philip Klutznick, President of the World Jewish Congress 255 10 Negotiations Held with the Leaders of the World Jewish Congress 258 11 On the Suggestion to Hold in Budapest the 1987 Annual Assembly of EJC 260 12 Comments of the Secretary-General of the WJC 262 13 The Meeting in Budapest of the Executive Committee of the WJC 264 V Mechanisms of Repression and the Jews Introduction 269 Documents 285 1 The Current Situation of the Jewish Denomination 285 2 The Jewish Denomination 288 3 Operational Situation of the Jewish Denomination 292 4 Operational Work against the Zionist Movement 297 5 Conditions for the Indemnification of the Hungarian Jews 303 6 On Zionist Issues 305 7 On the Israeli Embassy 308 8 Campaign to Reduce the Influence of the Israeli Embassy 312 9 The Economic Situation of the National Representation of Hungarian Israelites and the Budapest Israelite Congregation 314 10 Chairmanship Elections at the National Representation of Hungarian Israelites and the Budapest Israelite Congregation 318 viii Table of Contents 11 Policy Measures in the Field of the Jewish Religious Community 321 12 Reports on the World Federation of Hungarian Jews and the Meeting of the Former Pupils of the Jewish Grammar School 324 13 On the Activities of Domestic and Foreign Zioinsts 327 14 On the Operations in the Jewish Religious Community in 1977 330 15 The Centenary of the National Rabbinical Seminary 338 16 The Jewish Clerical Reaction in the Past 3 Years 343 17 Appendix. Orientation for a Systematic Register of the People of Jewish Origin 350 Biographical Notes 354 Bibliography 361 Archival sources 361 Archival sources online 362 Monographs and articles 362 Index of Persons 367 Abbreviations ACNS Administration of the Corps of National Security in Czechoslovakia (Sbor Národní Bezpečnosti) ÁEH State Office for Church Affairs (Állami Egyházügyi Hivatal) APO Agitation and Propaganda Department (Agitációs és Propaganda Osztály) ARTEX Art Export, Hungarian Foreign Trade Company BIC Budapest Israelite Congregation (Budapesti Izraelita Hitközség, BIH) CC Central Committee CDU Christian Democratic Union of Germany CPC Communist Party of China CPCz Communist Party of Czechoslovakia CPSU Communist Party of the Soviet Union ČSSR Czechoslovak Socialist Republic CSU Christian Social Union in Bavaria EJC European Jewish Congress EXIMIS Export-Import Bank of Israel FIJET World Federation of Travel Journalists and Writers (Fédération Internationale des Journalistes et Écrivains du Tourisme) FRG Federal Republic of Germany GDR German Democratic Republic HPR Hungarian People’s Republic HSWP Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party (see also MSZMP) IBUSZ Tourism, Purchase, Travel and Transport Private Limited Company (Idegenforgalmi, Beszerzési, Utazási és Szállítási Zártkörűen Működő Részvénytársaság) ICP Israeli Communist Party ICR Institute for Cultural Relations JOINT American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee JRC Jewish Religious Community KSZB Central Social Committee (Központi Szociális Bizottság) MAHART Hungarian Shipping Company (Magyar Hajózási Részvénytársaság) MALÉV Hungarian Airlines (Magyar Légiközlekedési Vállalat) MAPAI Workers’ Party of the Land of Israel (Mifleget Poalei Eretz Yisrael) MFA Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Külügyminisztérium) MFT Ministry of Foreign Trade MIOI National Bureau of Hungarian Israelites MIOK National Representation of Hungarian Israelites, NRHI (Magyarországi Izraeliták Országos Képviselete) MSZMP Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party, HSWP (Magyar Szocialista Munkáspárt) NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization NB[H] National Bank [of Hungary] NRHI National Representation of Hungarian Israelites (see also MIOK) PC Political Committee PLO Palestine Liberation Organization PPR Polish People’s Republic PSR Polish Socialist Republic SABENA Belgian Corporation for Air Navigation Services (Societé Anonyme Belge d’Exploitation de la Navigation Aérienne) SC Security Council x Abbreviations SSE Société