Page 7 - Issue 24

by the Hungarians. Jews were exterminated in Hungary
faster than anywhere else during the Holocaust. In less
than nine months, over 550,000 Jews were killed,
including about three-quarters of Hungarian Jewry and
many who came to the country after the annexation of
Austria and the occupation of the Czech Republic.

In the midst of the days of extermination, members of
the youth movements initiated an unprecedented
rescue operation. They smuggled over 15,000 Jews to
Romania, most of whom later immigrated to Israel. At
the same time, members of the youth movements
forged documents and rescued children. The smuggling
operation lasted about six months, until Romania
moved to fight alongside the Allies, and the Hungarian-
Romanian border became a battlefield.

Hungary fought alongside Germany in World War II.
Miklos Horthy, the de facto ruler of the country, was an
ardent anti-Semite, but he opposed Nazi extremism and
the far-right extremist Arrow Cross party that was
operating in his country.

"In Hungary, there were clear anti-Jewish laws. Still, the
Jews, because of how involved they were in society and
the state, were able to keep themselves safe," says
Yuval Alpen, who heads the Association for the Study of
Zionist Youth Movements in Hungary. On the eve of the
Nazi invasion, the lives of Jews in Hungary were
relatively comfortable. Protecting the lives of Jews was
for Horthy a way to strengthen his ties with Western
countries, which he expected to eventually win the war.