The Denver Jewish news. [volume] (Denver, Colo.) 1915-1925, 1919-09-10
The Jewish Situation in
Hungary Reviewed
a HISTORIC SURVEY OF CONDI-
TIONS IN THAT COUNTRY.
By GoTTHARD DntTsCH.

osOpiiy u HlSuiS. -"'Sl JEWS IhNt
heard the beautiful anecdote of Il.
Akiba and Pappus. The rabbi was
studying the TOrah, and Pappus Won
dered why he should risk his life since
the study of the T0rah was prohibit
ed by Roman law under penalty of
death. The rabbi replied with the
following parable: The fox walked
by the shore of lake and saw the
fishes restless. He asked for the
cause of their excitement. They an
swered that they had to be in con-
slant fear of the man who with angles
and nets was plotting against their
lives. Well, said the fox. come to the
shore, and 1 shall protect you. The
fishes replied: Art thou indeed the
wisest of animals? Why should we
prefer certain death To the chance Of
life which we have here in our ele.
iaent?
This is the secret of the crowding
of Jews into countries with uncertain
political conditions, like Poland. Tur-
key and Hungary. There We're plcn-
" of traps. seines and hooks. but yOu
Austria and Germany there was little
chance, and i'm France England. Spain.
etc. none at all. In n country with
loose form of government. part of it
constantly disputed between the sultan
and the kaiser. where the mobiles nat
urally had n great power, being al
the power and the will to enforce laws
were usually for sale. Jew could
always find n corner where he could
crouch. So we have in Hungary.
roughly speaking one million Jews in
a population of 20 millions. nearly five
percent. A great part of this popu-
lation is of recent Immigration. TIP to
is4S the neighf,oring Austrian pro
,inces. Bohemia and Moravia. fufssssh-
cd immigrants who wished to escape
from the pressure OF conditions at
home. especially from the restrictions
on marriage, and in northern Hun
gary the adjoining province of Galicin
furnished another set OF immigrants.
Another reason for the laNity of the
central authorities was the mixture Of
nationalities. The Magynrs, the r1il-
ing element, form only one half of the
pOpula ton. 1t is reasonably certain
that the census figures were some
what manipulated, and with that they
claim for the Magyars only 81 per-
cent. The Rumanians come next with
10, the Germans and the SlOvaks with
about ten each, the Jugo-Slavs. as the
Croatians and Serbs are now called,
with little less, and the Ruthenians
with about five percent. Most OF
these nationalities live in compact ter
ritories where the Magyars are only
found among government officials.
Equally mixed are the religious fig
ures, tho the decided majority is Ro-
man Catholics, the Jugo-Slavs, how
ever, are Greek Catholics, as are the
Ruthenians. Then both the Germans
and the Slovaks. as we'll as the Mag
vars have u considerable section of
Protestants, and finally there are 4
number of Unitarians some of whom
in the course of 10th century became
Jews. They had to conceal them
selves, but occasionally they were dis
covered, and in 1888 one of their
number, John Torockai. was stoned to
death Nevertheless they persisted. and
! in 1863 their last remnant became Of
ficially Jews. The greater religious
| liberty. not in a small part due to
the Turkish government, also helped
| to increase the number of Jews.
Their situation was precarious as
everywhere, but anyhow better than
| in the neighboring states. They also
were excluded from some cities, espe-
cially from mining states. where Jews
always were treated as suspicious
| characters who would act as receiv-
| ers Of stolen silver and gold: they
could not hold land. and did not pos
sess any political rights. They could,
| however. engage in mechanical trades
and had greater freedom Of movement
| than in other states.
The French Revolution of 1880 gave