Antisemitism in Post World War II Hungary - violence, riots; Communist Party policy

Violence broke out on July 30, on a day when the workers took to the streets to demonstrate against economic hardships. News spread that three "speculators" had been arrested and that they were being moved to an internment camp outside of the city. It seems likely that the demonstrators had been notified ahead of time where and when the prisoners would be marched. The crowds attacked the unfortunate men and killed one, wounded another and let the third one escape. It could not have been an accident that of the three he alone was not Jewish. The police stood by without attempting to stop the lynching. After the tragic events the police did arrest some of the participants in the lynching. However, on August 1st the crowds attacked the police station where the men were kept and there lynched the Jewish-Communist police lieutenant.

Later it transpired that the "speculators" had been victims of a provocation.The communist head of the county, Istvan Oszip, persuaded three mill owners to sell flour several times above the fixed price. He did this in order to show the crowds that the authorities were fighting against the black market. [16] Clearly, he did not foresee the consequences. It is remarkable that Rakosi, writing his memoirs in Soviet exile in the late 1960s or early 1970s would say only this about the Miskolc pogrom: "In the days preceding August 1st [the date of the introduction of the new currency] at two places there were serious disturbances. In Diosgyor the Political Police arrested a few troublemakers, and consequently the enemy managed to persuade some of the workers to march to Miskolc, and in the confusion two workers of the Political Police were killed. It was possible to reestablish order quickly." [17] That is all that Rakosi from the distance of several decades found necessary to say about this sorry event.

After 1946, the wave of pogroms and attacks on Jewish life and property subsided. The political and economic situation stabilized, and the regime, increasingly under Communist domination, was able to maintain order. While the party was struggling for power, mass movements, and demonstrations served its purpose. Once the Communists were in power, disorder not only did not serve their interests, but on the contrary, it became dangerous. The lack of spontaneous violence against Jews, of course, did not mean that antisemitism disappeared. At the time of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, once again there were some antisemitic incidents, though, in view of the shortness of the revolution it is difficult to say how important and wide-spread they were.

The Communist Party in the immediate post-war period pursued a contradictory and confused policy. This confusion followed from the facts that the leadership of the Party was largely in Jewish hands, and that, especially in these years, popular antisemitism was strong. As far as the communist leadership was concerned, the interests of the communist cause were far more important than the defense of a persecuted minority. The leaders believed that by not defending Jews, and by demagogic agitation aimed against speculators (even though itwas clear that this had an antisemitic edge and encouraged antiJewish violence), they could distance the party from Jews and make people forget that they themselves were Jewish. Such policy was bound to be unsuccessful; without making people less anti-Communist, it only led to more misery for theJews.