Th e relati onship onshi p of the th e Jews Jews and Chr i sti ans at Csí ksze kszer eda as refl ected cted i n the th e local pr ess ess
Izabella Péter
Csíkszereda, or Miercurea Ciuc Ciuc at its Romanian name, is a town of 42 thousand, the administrative centre of Hargita County, where, unfortunately, not a single Jewish resident can be found today. Although there have never been a great number of Jewish people at the town because it has been known of its intolerance towards ‘individuals of o f not Sekler origin’1, the Jews did settle in Csíkszereda beginning from the last decades of the 19th century. There was a long road from the settlement of the first Jew, Móric Hetman until deportations in the course of which not only the settled Jewry but the population of the town changed a lot: the interactions of Christians and the Jews covered a wide range from bravado anti-Jewishness until recognising some Jews as full-right citizens; to the denunciation of Jews at the time of the deportations and acquisitioning the apartments left unused by them or to safeguarding their belongings in the case they would ever return. The objective of this study is to investigate the above interactions relying on the documents of the Hargita County Archives, the contemporary Csíkszereda press, the documents in the private archives of the Csíkszereda Community and in-depth interviews made by Katalin Szabó. To start with, let us review briefly the history of the Jewry at Csíkszereda.
Some statistical figures on the settlement of the Jewry in Csík County and at Csíkszereda
1
The private archives of the Csíkszereda Jewish Community – 70/1974 – letter by Dr Miklós Adler to Zoltán
Vántsa, Minister of the Reformed Church.
1
The Jews settled on the territory of Csík County and at Csíkszereda relatively late and in no great numbers. This was partly due to the isolation of the region – region – it it was only connected to other parts of Transylvania quite late, at the end of the 19th century – century – as as well as the traditional Catholic conscience, which had been an important part of the identity of Seklers living in Csík County. In accordance with the figures of the 1869 census, the County had 305 residents of the Israelite confession2, which gradually increased and reached 2357 by 1910. After the big losses of World War 1, the 1920 census only showed 1861 Jewish nationals, but the number of the Jewry started to increase slowly reaching the level of 1910 by 1930, when 2345 people reported to be Jewish. It is, however, important to note that the change can only be regarded an increase in absolute figures, because the total number of the population increased much faster in the same period, so the percentage ratio of Jews J ews actually declined compared to the Hungarian population.3 There followed a slow migration out of the place; according to some data, 2067 Jews lived on the territory of the County when Hungary took over power.4 The 1941 census registered 70 converted Jews on the territory of the County who were deemed Jewish by the anti-Jewish laws.5 The figures were similar at Csíkszereda: including the villages of Zsögöd, Taploca and Somlyó 5 Jews lived at the city in 1869 and 19 in 1880. In 1910, however, 241 Israelites lived at 2
Regarding census data, I relied on the work ‘Ethnic and denominational statistics of Transylvania’ by Árpád Varga
E. (Hargita megye településeinek etnikai (anyanyelvi/nemzetiségi) adatai 1850-2002 valamint Hargita megye településeinek felekezeti adatai http://www.kia.hu/konyvtar/erdely/erd2002.htm 3
This can probably be explained explained by the effort of Romanian census officers encouraging the Jews to report report
themselves to be Israelites and Jewish. It was part of the official propaganda of the Romanian Government aimed at reducing the number of Hungarian population by separating the Hungarian Jews from them. Probably, that politics and the spread of Zionism resulted in a part of Hungarian Jews not reporting themselves to belong to the Hungarian national minority at that time and at the next census. Cf.: Zoltán Tibori Szabó: Csík vármegye zsidósága a betelepüléstől a megsemmisítésig. megsemmisítésig. [The [T he Jewry Je wry of Csík County from their settlement until their annihilatio n.] I-III. http://www.adatbank.ro/inchtm.php?kod=230 4
Ferencz S. Alpár: A csíkszeredai zsidókról . [About the Csíkszereda Jewry.] In: Székelyföld [Csíkszereda], [Csíkszereda], IV. évf.,
1. sz., 2000. január, 72. old. 5
Tibori, op.id.
2
the town and in the villages being an organic part of the town. The population of the Csíkszereda Jewry was reduced as a result of the Great War. The town had 205 Jewish citizens in 1920 and only reached the level of 1910 with 302 Israelite residents by 1930. The figure only slightly changed in the next decade; the 1941 Hungarian census found 299 Jews at Csíkszereda. Three of them returned from the deportations. Their numbers were 126 in 1947 including those exempted from labour service, the surviving victims of forced labour service and Jews settling there from Csernovic. Compared to the number of the Hungarian population, the above figures are low in percentage as it is illustrated in the following table: Year
Total population
Israelites
Ratio
1850
961
-
0
1857
1016
-
0
1869
1247
5
0.4
1880
1597
19
1.19
1890
1789
13
0.73
1900
2858
160
5.60
1910
3701
241
6.51
1920n
2675
188
7.03
1930**
4807
268
5.58
1941
6926
299
4.32
1947*
126
1948a
6143
69
1.12
1956a
11 996
7
0.06
1956n
11 996
61
0.51
1977n
30 069
15
0.05
1992
45 769
5
0.01
1999
47 000
4
0.008
3
Nevertheless, that slight increase of the population triggered intolerance by the locals. Mózes Vitos6 spoke about the settlement of the Jewry with annoyance in his work Csík County Booklets. Data to the description and history of Csík County published County published between 1894 and 1902: ‘We must take it as a sign of the pure Catholicism of Csík County that there had never been national minority issues here in the past. Thus, the idea of religious and national unity of Csík County may not be and must not be imagined separately from each other. (...) Therefore, I look at the distant future of our Sekler blood with a sense of foreboding due to the current invasion of the alien Semitic race.’7 Th e hosts
The immigration of people of another religion triggered significant objections in a community, for which the Csíksomlyó Pilgrimage was part of its national identity, which had created a myth for itself from keeping its religion. Therefore, the Jews were at a disadvantage compared to immigrant Armenians, who were similarly merchants but they were Catholic, which had become the basis of acceptance in the county with a Catholic majority. Mózes Vitos was lamenting that the ratio of the Jewry in Csík County used to be 0.61%, but it increased a hundred times within a short period of time. He listed all accusations of classical anti-Semitism against the Jews: they live on renting village inns, they are money lenders and cheating a Christian is a virtue for them.8 ‘We can see they have conquered both heavy and small industry, wholesale and retail trade, the whole press in a country of land owners (Hungary - Transylvania), they have falsified Hungarian public opinion and conquered the Hungarian political public life, in other words, they have become the controllers of the situation, i.e., Hungary has become an Eldorado of the Jewry.’9 6
Mózes Vitos, (1847- 1902) local historian, editor and Roman Catholic priest. Its main work is the Csík County
Booklet. Data to the description and history of Csík County, which County, which was published between 1894 and 1902. The monography is of 1022 pages; it was published in 34 booklets as a series to make it easily accessible for the people. Since Mózes Vitos was a correspondent of Csíki Papers, its impact on the public opinion of Csík was significant. 7
Vitos, I. p. 9.
8
Ibidem, p. 37.
9
Ibidem, p. 36.
4
So, the Jews immigrated into that closed community, which was intolerant to foreigners and backward economically. You can also read about the economic situation of the County in the work of Mózes Vitos, who assessed the situation of the County relatively objectively, except for the national minority issues: its commerce and industry are ‘hardly more than rudimentary’10, only the exports of wood and mineral waters had a major part to play in the economy. The railways, which were built quite late, did not mean a real step forward, because the sale of the produce could not be organised: ‘if by any chance, people would work more than is absolutely necessary for the internal consumption of «Csík Land», they would not know what to do with it.’11 Balázs Orbán did not speak of Csíkszereda flatteringly either: ‘(Csík)Szereda is a weak little place; many are there in Csík larger and more city-like in in appearance. The whole is made up of two streets meeting at a right angle giving the whole a T shape. There is a castle at the southern end of the street running from north to south surrounded by prettier officers’ cottages of the former border guard company. The only church (not very decorative) of the town is at the western end of the other street running from east to west, and in between there are small onestorey houses covered with planks, a few mean shops, a few tradesmen and bakers and a number of inns and pubs marked with a sign of planed board to indicate that we are in a town. – town. – As As the present of this country is coarse, coarse, we do not know much about its past either.’12 The town was still regarded as the most backward ‘of all Sekler towns with respect to architectural investments’ in 1900 as well.13 Only 24 out of 541 houses had an upper storey and only 5 had a bathroom!
10
Ibidem, p. 6.
11
Vitos, I. p. 261.
12
Balázs Orbán: A székelyföld leírása történelmi, régészeti, természetrajzi s népismei szempontból, [A description
of Sekler Land from historical, archaeological, natural history and anthropological perspective] Pest, 1868, http://mek.oszk.hu/04800/04804/html/ 13
Miklós Frank: Csíkszereda város fejlődése – építőipari szempontból szempontból in: Az 50 éves ipartestület 1884 -1934, kiadó:
Csíkszereda és vidéke ipartestülete, [Evolution of the town of Csíkszereda from the perspective of the construction industry. ] 1934, 80.
5
That religious, closed community had already been anti-Semitic before there were any Jews among them, although many thought it was because the Christian population did not known them and therefore treated them as something strange, something weird.14 But when several Jews got settled in Csík, that attitude slowly changed; the Jews were accepted. It was mainly due to the economic impact triggered by the immigration of the Jews: new jobs were created, there was a high standard of health care, a sanatorium, and a diversification of the range of consumer goods offered. Despite the above, we can conclude from different memoirs and newspaper articles that acceptance had never been complete; however much the Jews tried to integrate, the Catholic community always regarded them as strangers and made them feel outsiders all the time. Th e sh sh ort or t h i stor y of th e Jewry at Csí C sí kszereda kszereda
The Jews immigrated to Sekler Land from Moldova, Bukovina and Galicia, although some scattered groups had arrived from other areas of Transylvania as well. Some of them were migrant peddlers, who got settled there in the end. However, Jews were mostly attracted by logging, the timber industry and in the trade of cereals. Although there had been efforts for settlement earlier, earlier, migrant peddlers usually left before 1890 because ‘they could not get adjusted to the population accepting with difficulty anybody of a non-Sekler origin’.15 Their immigration was accelerated because Csíkszereda became a county seat in 1875 and the so-termed Sekler Line was built16 attracting Jews to Csík mainly from Háromszék. Since wealthy Jews, the owners mainly of timber plants, created jobs and promoted the life standard of the population in that way, and because highly qualified Jewish physicians gained respect, the animosity towards them was slowly mitigated and they were admitted into the society of Csík. However, their admission did not really mean inclusion. Their status was rather that of the tolerated one.
14
Tivai: ‘The public at large had no idea about Jews with us.’ Op. id. p. 55.
15
Ibidem.
16
The railway Brassó – Brassó – Sepsiszentgyörgy Sepsiszentgyörgy – Csíkszereda Csíkszereda – Gyergyószentmiklós Gyergyószentmiklós – Déda Déda – Marosvásárhely Marosvásárhely inaugurated in
1897 but only completed by 1909.
6
However, that was a step forward compared to the situation of the first Jews setting at Csíkszereda. Móric Hetman might have moved into Csíkszereda with his family sometime in the second half the 1860s. According to the records available, although the people of the town allowed the vinegar seller to live among them, but they bored holes in his casks ‘out of sport’, they damaged his porch with their wagons or they broke his windows because ‘he was a Jew, which was the greatest fault!’17 Although they had never seen a Jew before Hetman, ‘all the the people of Csík had been anti-Semitic anti-Semitic to a man.’18 He had no chance for legal remedy, the town management did not help. In his book Memories book Memories of the old Csík Imre Tivai Nagy explained that by saying ‘it was a great shame for the residents of the town that a living Jew dared to lurk’ behind its walls and everybody blamed him and made his life difficult, difficult, what is more, ‘bravado’ with the Jew was deemed a kind of obligation!19 The town management played its part in it, because it ordered the door and windows of his ramshackle wooden hut to be removed in the coldest winter. Móric Hetman only lost his patience once and in his misery wrote a letter to Vienna: ‘Euer Majistät, hier ist ribillion...’ but he received no answer. Immigration however continued although not at a large scale and slowly by slowly the people of Csík learned to coexist coex ist with the Jews. The advertisements adver tisements of the Jews J ews could find their place in the papers, such as Csíki News and Csíki Papers, and articles on Jewish topics could also be published. In the meantime, the community continued to develop, a Chevra Kadisha was established, then a prayer house was built and a shochet were contracted. A Jewish school was established in the first decade of the 20th century, land was purchased for the cemetery and a Jewish temple was built. Several Jewish families lived in the small street where the temple was – was – that that is why it was called Zsidó (Jewish) street: the Nágler family, Dr Miklós Adler, Béla Mandel shoe merchant, the Berkovics and the Popper families. In addition, other Jewish families lived scattered in other parts of town: Jakab Friedman, owner of a café, the Adler family, Samu Berkovics, tinsmith,
17
Imre Tivai Nagy: Emlékezés régi csíkiakról. [Memories of the old Csík.] Csíkszereda, 2009, p. 55.
18
Ibidem.
19
Tivai, 56.
7
Hermann Hauzer, watchmaker and jeweller, Hugó Hirsch, physician, Ignác Ackermann, retail trader, Sámuel Klein, owner of a sawmill and Emil Friedlander, timber merchant.20 A step made by Dr Gábor Pál, the director of the Csíksomlyó Grammar School made integration complete because ‘he admitted Miklós Adler, the son of József Adler , a Háromszék tradesman to the students of the Catholic Grammar School as the first student of the Israelite confession opening in that way the road to the sons of the Jews to study.’21 In 1913, a rabbi was elected in the person of Jakab Glasner. The small community belonging earlier to the Tölgyes Israelite Community became independent: the Csíkszereda Orthodox Israelite Community was established. The selection of the rabbi divided not only the Israelite but also the Christian residents of the town, and it was also followed with interest both at Csíkszereda and in other cities of Transylvania. The two dailies of the town, the Csíki Papers and the Csíki News reported on the campaign contradictorily subject to their party stance, but their reports did not lack some antiSemitism either. Since Gusztáv Kálmán, an Under-Secretary of State for commerce also took part in the election of the rabbi, the election had become a nationwide scandal. Csíki Papers assessed the events as follows in the first issue of its Volume XXV 25, in 1913: ‘In that honest Sekler town (...) the Israelite citizens were preparing for the election of their chief rabbi. Needless to say political aspects were also involved in the election by those hoping to benefit from it, who tried to reach their goals by using the traditional means of elections: violence, terrorism or promising licences to open tobacco shops or pubs. As a true follower, Guszti Kálmán also had a finger in the pie and that is why he - taking the side of a certain rabbi called Jakab Glasner - tried to ‘convince’ all voters voters using the assistance of the relevant authorities to find their redemption in Glasner. (…) We have heard about pressure by the High Sheriff in the neighbourhood but all noises were calmed soon (…) In fact, our Israelite compatriots say and all the other papers
20
Ferencz S. 20.
21
Dr Adler 70/1974.
8
confirmed the election ended peacefully with an overwhelming majority for Jakab Glasner without pressure or promises of tobacco shops.’ shops.’22 After the election, the inauguration of the rabbi was peaceful on 19 January, 1913: ‘all the decorated carriages of the town made a presence to receive the rabbi and the honourable procession marched march ed into the town carrying bunches of flowers and and banners banners in front.’23 Indicating the importance of the event, the correspondents of Csíki News said: ‘Csíkszereda was in a real fervour due to the event’24 After the inauguration, there was a banquet where funds were raised for the orphans’ and poorhouse of Csík County, to which the Jewry Jewr y contributed significantly.25 Imre Tivai Nagy put pen to paper to express his views on the Csíki Jewry on the occasion of the inauguration. Giving a brief account of the obstinate endurance of the Jews, which meant that in less than forty years beginning from the first Jew settled, the town had its own community, temple and cemetery, he predicted a great future for the Jewish community: ‘The generation living fifty years from now should not wonder if the Jewish temple should be built in the best part of the city at Csíkszereda and the rabbi should be the most important governing man in city life. The Jewish temple will not be hidden in a corner of the former pigs’ former pigs’ market for market for long, it will be moved to the best part of the market, because serious religious belief and solidarity prevail over the hardest obstacles, while faithless internationalism will cower and turn up to kiss k iss
22
Csíki Papers, 1 January, 1913, issue 1, p. 2.
23
Tivai, op.id. 53.
24
Csíki News, Vol 3, 25 January, J anuary, 1913, issue 4, p. 3.
25
‘On the occasion of the inauguration of rabbi -registrar Jakab Glasner (...) the following provided donations to the
orphans’ and poorgouse and poorgouse of Csík County: Adolf Zimmermann, Dr Leó Harmat, chief doctor at the public hospital 2020 Crowns, Boskovitz of Klaus, Mór Habzelman of Klaus 3-3 Crowns, Lázás Lazs railway supervisor of Klaus, Ödön Aczél 2-2 Crowns, Adolf Niszel Adolf, jun. Lázár Berkovits, Géza Gottlieb 1-1 Crown, Hermann Magyar 5 Crowns, Ignác Mátrai 4 Crowns. We express our grateful thanks to the noble donors. The managing assembly of the orphans’ and poorhouse and poorhouse of Csík County. Csíkszereda 31 March, 1913. József Birtha, Chairman.’ Csíki Papers, Vol 25, 9 April, 1913, issue 15, p. 3.
9
the Golden Calf hoarded with tenacious perseverance.’ perseverance.’26 That tone, which is scorning even if it is praising, accompanied even the most positive expressions about the Jews in the life of the town. The Jews of Csíkszereda had become more and more integrated into the community by the end of World War 1; a number of Jewish names appeared among the servicemen of the Sekler infantry No. 82. The War, however, did not spare the town; a part of the houses were destroyed in a fire, the population was reduced and the remnants of the destruction could also be seen in 1922. The Jewish community also suffered major losses both in materials and human life. The heroic dead of the War included Herman Magyar, Frigyes Fischer, Hoffman D. Josheph, Dezső Grünwald, Fülöp Breier, but dr Miklós Adler, Herman Magyar, Frigyes Fischer, Dezső Grünwald and Ignác Ackermann returned from the front. In the meantime, the ritual bath and some houses had been plundered and the temple had been damaged. Fortunately, the Romanian Jewish servicemen of the Regat Army passing through took the Torah scrolls of the Temple and they found refuge in a community in Romania. They put a note on the door of the Torah cabinet, to say where it could be found after the War, and it was actually returned later on. 27 Losing the war and the Trianon Treaty forced all citizens of Csíkszereda into a basically new situation. The change of power was not such a shock for the Jews, who had been a minority earlier, as it was for the Hungarians; actually it brought about a slight improvement from the perspective of national minority issues. The Romanian authorities tried to strengthen Jewish nationalism against the Hungarians and Jews were encouraged to talk Yiddish and to confess to be Jewish and not Hungarian at the time of the census.28 As a result, a high degree of assimilation was replaced by ‘post‘post-assimilation’ or ‘post‘postemancipation’ trends, and local Jews were oriented to Zionism.29 The goal of the National Federation of Transylvanian Jews founded on 20 November, 1918 was to get the Jews be
26
Tivai, 54.
27
Alpár Salamon Ferencz: A Holokauszt helytörténetének oktatása V-VIII. osztályban. A csíkszeredai zsidóság
története. [Teaching the local history of the Holocaust in grades 5-8. The history of the Csíkszereda Jewry.] Unpublished, p. 29. 28
Randolph L. Braham: The Hungarian Holocaust, Gondolat, Budapest, 1988, I. 141.
29
Ferencz S. 32.
10
declared as a national minority. The Jewish Party was established in in 1930. Nevertheless, the efforts of Romanian politics to divide Jews and Hungarians and get Jews confess to belong to the Jewish national minority reducing the number of the Hungarians failed in most cases. The local Jews including those of Csíkszereda regarded themselves to be Hungarians of the Israelite confession. That might have be the reason why Romanian politics were characterised by growing anti-Semitism between the two World Wars while there had been no anti-Jewish movements although the people of Csík, in fact, did not love the Jews. After the war, in 1920-21, the community re-built its temple, the number of followers increased and the Jews took part in the life of the town unimpeded. In 1928, a new president of the community was elected in the person of Mátyás Grünberg who operated a steam machine at Madéfalva, and as Jakab Glasner was elected chief rabbi at Kolozsvár, his place was taken by Romeo Krausz. The political background, however, was the spread and strengthening of Romanian antiSemitism: In 1930, the ill-famed Vasgárda (Iron Guard) was established from the legion of Saint Michael Archangel founded by Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, then more and more anti-Semitic decrees were published from 1937. Under the Goga-Cuza Government, more and more antiJewish laws were passed in Romania ‘to curb the invasion of the Jewry’ and ‘to protect the Romanian national national interests’. The Csíkszereda media regularly informed its readers about those measures, since the Jewish community belonged among the citizens of the town. The situation, however, changed after the Second Vienna Award, when the anti-Jewish laws of Hungary were also introduced in Csíkszereda, the Jewish papers were banned everywhere in Transylvania and the citizenship of the Jews was withdrawn. Nevertheless, in an interesting way, the Csíki Papers only carried anti-Jewish articles infrequently, while the Gyergyó Papers and the Sekler Word of Sepsiszentgyörgy openly took sides with anti-Semitism. A city commander, Elemér Éder appointed to Csík from the mother-country is said to have been behind the abuse of Jews. He could only recruit a low number of followers mostly from among ‘individuals of a doubtful existence’: ‘In general, the evil, bad and impatient impatient spirit imported by the conquering second-rate class of administrators was only received with the 11
sympathy of a minority of the population, those who had been hot-blooded, wanted positions or an easy life, while the more serious part distanced itself and we felt their willingness to help and their empathy towards our humiliation. There were some who took took part in plundering the assets of the Greek Orthodox Church committed by the infamous colonel Éder... on the other hand, our gratitude and acknowledgement goes to Dr. Károly Kovács, Dr. Gábor Pál, Dr András Nagy. Jun. Dr. József Gál, Pál Kovács and many other compatriots at Csíkszereda, who rose above the lowly atmosphere of the times, times, and did not allow to be dirtied by mud.’30 The behaviour of the representatives of the Christian churches - Catholic parish priest Ferenc Bíró and Minister of the Reformed Church Pál Kovács - gained importance at that time. Mainly because Ferenc Bíró had a great influence on the members of town management. Miklós Adler said of him ‘he had been a main manipulator of all political city issues.’ 31 While Pál Kovács often tried to intervene to mitigate anti-Jewish measures, Ferenc Bíró openly expressed his disapproval if somebody tried to involve him in similar interventions. Actually, the active intervention of the top management of the town would have been necessary when general Elemér Éder - quite illegally - ordered the Jewry of the city to pay a blood money of 80,000 Pengo and threatened thre atened those delaying or unable to pay to be evicted. Éder divided the Jews into three categories: those who had to be evicted from the country, that meant about 20% of the Jews; those who ‘only’ had to be relocated to other parts of the country - about 60%, and the remaining 20% was considered to be reliable enough to be allowed to stay in the town.32 He actually implemented his idea later on: 81 people of 24 families, who were unable to pay the required 100-150 Pengo of repayment of public work, were transported to Gyimesfelsőlok and he tried repeatedly to get them over the Romanian border in November, 1940. It failed due to the resistance of the Romanian Border Guards, so they were returned to the city jail, and then they were deported to Kőrösmező on 16 November. Margit Slachta, the mother superior of the Social Sisters intervened in the interest of those deported, as a result of which the deportations were stopped but 21 out of 36 people moved across the 30
Adler, 70/1974.
31
Ibidem.
32
Bodea, 63.
12
Ukrainian border disappeared. Gábor Pál, a well-known figure of public life at Csík intervened in their interest as well. However, the Catholic priest Ferenc Bíró demanded indignantly that Margit Slachta who had turned to him should leave him out of such things because ‘it’s got nothing to me, I am not interested’33Only Benő Shultz and his wife survived the deportations. In 1942, at the next deportations, 19 and then another 22 families were ordered to be deported in accordance with Act 8130/1939. The reason referred to was that their presence had been threatening the interests of national security. Although a social s ocial worker at Csíkszereda, Judit Veres tried to turn to Imre Sándor episcopal representative at Kolozsvár (Cluj) for help, her efforts failed. Slachta received a rudely rejecting letter from Ferenc Bíró, when she tried to reach the termination of further deportations: ‘I apologise, apologise, if you have such power available to you there, please, do not involve me anymore, anymore, because I cannot undertake such clerical part.’34 The intervention by Emma Stróbl with police captain Pál Farkas proved more efficient, because she was promised the same day da y no more mo re deportations would take place until appeals are evaluated. Despite of that, several families were moved across the border to Ruthenia in 1942. In the meantime the position of the Jews remaining in the city deteriorated: they were under police control, they had to report to National Central Authority Controlling Foreigners (KEOKH) because their citizenship had been withdrawn. Jewish youth were at the beginning still conscripted for military service, but they were banned from wearing their awards. At the beginning, graduates from high schools served as volunteers with armbands, but they were gradually deprived of the armband, the bayonet and then the uniform. An example for that is a request by Andor Lempert, requesting recognition of his eligibility for the armband, which was
33
Adler, 70/1974.
34
Erdélyi zsidóság második világháború alatti történetéből. Margit Slachta Tamás Majsai, Egy epizód az Észak- Erdélyi
fellépése a Csíkszeredáról kiutasított zsidók érdekében. érdekében. [ En En episode from the history of the Jewry in Northern Transylvania during World War 2. The intervention of Margit Slachta in the interest of Jews expulsed from Csíkszereda.] Csíkszereda.] In: MEDVETÁNC, 1988/4, 1989/1, p. 15.
13
rejected under the title he was deemed a Jew in accordance with his own statement.35 Similarly, Lipót Török and his son were also conscripted and he was banned from wearing his awards gained in World War I. The Defence Act (1939:II) taking effect in March, 1939 laid the foundations for forced labour service: ‘unreliable’ elements, such as Jews, communists and other national minorities were conscripted into unarmed units of labour service. At the beginning, they mainly built roads or airfields, or drained swamps, later they were placed under the control of the second Hungarian army. Several companies of forced labourers operated at Sekler Land. Two workers’ companies were commanded to Gyimesközéplok and Uzvölgye from Bihar County in summer 1942. Most Jews of Csík and Háromszék were conscripted into the labour company No. 110/40, whose main task was to dig the foundations of a hotel at Csíkszereda. Later, they were commanded to the Ukraine, from where several of them managed to return home in the course of a disordered retreat. In spite of that, many died as a result of different diseases, under-nourishment, the cold and - last but not least - the cruelty of their own superiors.36 In memoirs, Zoltán Szabó of Taploca is mentioned, who had harnessed the Jewish forced labourers to torment them. The conductor Elek Sarkadi, who died of typhoid fever somewhere in the Ukraine was one of the famous victims of the forced labour service. Getting baptised might have been an escape route for the Jews in forced labour service. Christian forced labourers were given a white armband and they were treated differently from the Jews. A request of Gyula Reiszmann an Israelite from Budapest to be baptised can be found in the archives of the Gyulafehérvár Catholic Diocese, which was submitted to the Kolozsvár Municipality. Gyula Reiszmann served in the labour company No. 101/72 at Csíkcsicsó working at the rebuilding of the Szereda railway line. His wife and daughter had already been converted, but he had not n ot been able to take part in preparatory pr eparatory sessions s essions due to his illness. illness . The parish priest at Csicsó, Imre Buzás, taught him every Sunday and he recommended Gyula Reiszmann to be 35
Csíkszereda Város Polgármesteri Hivatalának iratai [Documents of the Mayors’ Office of the Town of
Csíkszereda] 1859-1968, 239/ 29 cs. pp. 215, 216., 3 October, 1941. 36
Ferencz S. op.id. p. 44.
14
baptised. The governor, however, referred to the Decree No. 1939/376 by Áron Márton37 to say that Reiszmann could be baptised six month later at the earliest ‘after he had fully interiorised religious knowledge’.38 The case of Franciska Rosenthal of Csíkszereda is not unique. The arch deacon of Szereda, Ferenc Bíró, only submitted her application when the preparations provided in the decree had been completed – a year after she had applied. The arch deacon stated ‘it is an internal turn of consciousness and any lay motive can be fully excluded’39. A reply was soon received: she may be baptised provided her marriage is settled or can be settled. On the whole, the population did not sympathise with the racist elements, it was rather the ‘imported’ officers of administration that were considered anti-Semitic anti-Semitic in the town. When following the German occupation of Hungary, the obligation of wearing the ‘yellow star’ was introduced in Csík as well, many residents looked at the wearers of the star with emphatic respect. Dr. András Nagy wrote: ‘The ‘The yellow star has been introduced for the Jews; we regarded it as mean cruelty and greeted those wearing it with almost emphatic respect, after all, the Star of David is an honourable sign, similar to what the cross is for the followers of Christ.’ 40
Confining people to a ghetto and deportations, however, started on 3 May, 1944. The Jewry of Csík County was interned in two ghettos: the Jews of Csík and Kászonszék to Sepsiszentgyörgy and those of Gyergyó-szék to Szászrégen. Police captain Farkas, who had been so generous in 1942, celebrated now the de-Jewishness of the town with flying colours: 37
Áron Márton issued his instructions regarding the baptism of Jews in his first Episcopal circular in 1939
numbered 1939/376. Accordingly, the sacraments of Christianity can only be provided if the sincerity of the intention has been proved. As a result, he required a year of preparation in principle and practice. The preparation meant minimum an hour a week of academic education and introduction to the liturgy. In addition, other conditions had to be met: e.g., the provisions of valid civil laws had to be observed, and Jews from other Dioceses could not be given permission to be baptised. People whose previous marriage could not be settled in accordance with church law were also excluded from getting permissions 38
Gyulafehérvári Érseki Levéltár, Helytartósági Iratok [Arch Bishop’s Archives of Gyulafehérvár, Municip ality
Documents], 25. 2604/ 15 August, 1943. 39
Ibidem, 433/ 22 January, 1944.
40
Dr András Nagy: Lót visszanéz [Lot looking back], Csíkszereda, 2001, p. 216.
15
‘After this four-year period of struggles, the dawn of 4 May, 1944 came41,’ when teams of detectives and policemen appeared at the door of each house where Jews had been living. They roused those sleeping there and hurriedly drove them to police cells - all members of the community with their modest bundles, those employed there had a last chance to pillage them and the elderly and the children spent the night, the last one for most of them, lying on the floor. Police captain Farkas managing the process did not go to church that afternoon contrary to his habit but as a general of a winning battle was sitting astride his chair in the courtyard watching the subdued enemy with pleasure.’42 312 Jewish residents of the town and its neighbourhood were transported to the Sepsiszentgyörgy collection camp on trucks. The families of chief engineer Mihály Szántó as well as the Fried and Ackermann families could remain in the town. Although Pál Farkas offered exemption to the Adler family, they did not make use of it and left together with the deported ones. After the deportation of the Jews, the police searched the houses of families that had been known as ‘friends of Jews’ trying to find valuables left behind. Although few people dared to take sides openly with the Jews, everybody was afraid, because those employing the services of Jewish physicians were harassed even before the deportations there were still some who agreed to keep the valuables of the Jews.43 The Csíkszereda Jews were transported to Szászrégen from the ghetto at Szentgyörgy and then deported to Auschwitz. Of them, Klára Török, Dr Ferdinánd Kiszelnik and Doctor Adler managed to return home. The Jews ordered to provide labour service had a better chance for survival: Zoltán Popper, Samu Bermann and his brother, Arnold Berkovics and one of his brothers also returned home from the Ukraine where the 110/40 company was commanded, although many of their Christian mates had wanted to get rid of them at any price.
41
Doctor Adler’s memory is mistaken here, deportations started at Csíkszereda also on 3 May.
42
Dr. Nagy, op.id. p. 216.
43
Béla Bács, Katalin Szabó, Voltak. Emlékezés a csíkszeredai zsidó közösségre [They were. Memories of the
Csíkszereda Jewish Community], Csíkszereda, 1999, Memories of Klára László, p. 17.
16
Those returning home had to face the same problems as the returning Jews in other cities of Hungary: their goods had disappeared, Christians had moved into their houses or businesses.44 An interesting momentum of the situation is that while the requisitioning of Jewish properties in other parts of Hungary only started in 1944, according to the documents of the Mayor’s Office of the Town of Csíkszereda, the properties ‘the owners of which have been away for at least a year, their place of residence is unknown and they are hindered in returning home and managing their belongings’ were belongings’ were already placed under control in 1943.45 The residents of Csíkszereda did make use of the opportunity. The documents of the Mayor’s Office of the Town of Csíkszereda include section No. 72 named the administration of Jewish properties, in which widow Ferencné Dávid requested already on 5 October, 1943 to allot her a vacant room in the courtyard of 66, Kossuth Lajos Street owned by widow Sándorné Dazbek. A similar request was rejected saying such flats could only be allotted to reliable individuals loyal to the nation, and anyway the town management was still waiting with the issue.46 Not only the individual damage was huge; the community itself suffered losses of such size it could never recover from completely: ‘The insides of the Synagogue was broken completely, the Hebrew books were damaged as well as the buildings. The facilities of the ritual bath were completely destroyed, the flat of the ‘shochet ‘s hochet ‘was ‘was damaged, the fence of the cemetery was removed and the graves were damaged during the war.’47 So, the immigration of the Jews of Csíkszereda to Israel started in the 1960s. The number of the population of 129 in 1947 was diminishing continuously with only 5 remaining by 1992. Today not one Jew is living in Csík.
44
Teréz Nagy remembers that after the deportation of her Jewish tenants she found her house empty when she
returned home: ‘By the time I got back, the house had been sealed. There had been a big cauldron there for rainwater, but even that had been taken off. I found a completely co mpletely empty flat. Ibidem, p. 25. 45
The flats of the victims of the 1941 and 1942 deportations also belong there. The documents of the Mayor’s
Office of the Town of Csíkszereda, 1859-1968, 239/ 28. p. 53., 12 May, 1943 46
Documents of Mayor’s Office of the Town of Csíkszereda 1859-1968, 239/72, p. 178.
47
Alpár Ferencz S.: A Holocaust történetének tanítása V-VIII osztályban. A csíkszeredai zsidóság története.
[Teaching the local history of the Holocaust in grades 5-8. The history of the Csíkszereda Jewry.]
17
Th e relati relati onshi onshi p of Jews Jews and and Ch r istians as refl ected cted i n the local press press
Several printed papers were published at Csíkszereda in the period researched. Csík i Papers
had an outstanding importance. The economic and social weekly had been published
from 1888 till 1944, first by the printing house of Márton Györgyjakab and then after Lajos Vákár had taken over the Book and Stationery Shop of József Szvoboda, in his edition. The managing editors of the weekly included Mózes Vitos, Catholic priest; Gyula Élthes and Dr. Lajos Csipak, canon, then Viktor Részegh had been the editor-in-chief from 1926 till 1944. In the period under Romanian control, the title of the paper had to be written in Romanian as well, so it was published under the title Ziarul Ciucului, then in the 1930s, the names of the editor-in-chief and the owner of the weekly were also printed in Romanian. Initially a social paper, it also monitored the events of Romanian and Hungarian politics and reported on major political events influencing the life of the town. Two other short lived weeklies were also published at the town in the same time, the as as Csík i N ews
a weekly in 1911 as a competitor of Csíki Papers. The founders, Gábor Pál and
József Gál formulated independence, public service and justice as the main goals of the weekly. The Csík People’s Weekly had been published from 1931 to 1944 at Csíkszereda as a political, social and economic weekly. At the beginning its editor-in-chief was Pál Péter Domokos then Ferenc Péter, owner of the printing house from 1933. The weekly provided space for the literary attempts of neighbouring authors, and represented the democratic spirit of public life at Csík as opposed to the ‘imported spirit of decorousness’ of the 1940s. Although the weeklies reported on the events from opposing perspectives at a given point of time, their analysis reflects the relationship between the Jewry at Csíkszereda and the ‘indigenous population’ of Hungarian nationality. The concept is used consciously, because despite a high degree of immigration - all foreigners are considered ‘strangers’ in the villages becoming parts par ts of Csíkszereda, such as Zsögöd, Csíksomlyó or Taploca although a lthough not in the city itself.
18
The history of Jews at Csíkszereda comprises three different periods. They are characterised by the county or the town belonging to different state-forms in different times. The laws of the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy had applied to the Jews until the end of World War I or the Trianon Treaty, Csíkszereda had become part of Romania after 1919, and it was returned to Hungary in 1940 by the Second Vienna Award. The laws of the three state powers involved had different attitudes to the Jewry. At the same time, the behaviour of the local population was also different regarding the application of the laws subject to how much they felt the given political formation to be their own. The laws identified the rights of the Jewry J ewry or their constraints at Csíkszereda. The Olmütz Constitution proclaimed on 30 December, 1849 was an important point of emancipation for the Jews living on the territory of the Monarchy. It included the religious equality of all residents of the state as well as the independence of civil and political rights of religious denominations. Although the Constitution was repelled in 1851, the equality of citizens before the law la w remained in effect. The issue iss ue of emancipation, eman cipation, however, was taken off the agenda at the time of neo-absolutism and a re-negotiation of the topic was only brought along by the 1867 Reconciliation. Equality, in the end, was implemented, when the Parliament adopted a draft law by Prime Minister Gyula Andrássy, in which Article 1867/XVII said the Israelite population of the country was given equal rights with Christian residents with respect to all civil and political rights. The last step of emancipation was the declaration of the Jewish religion as an ‘accepted religion’ on 2 November, 1895 in Article 1895/ XLII. In the same year, the law on civil marriage was published legalising marriages between Jews and Christians that had been deemed proselytism earlier.48 In that way, the road was open to mixed marriages (which was objected to by the Catholic Church49), promoting and accelerating the assimilation of the Jews in that way.
48
László Gyémánt: Evrei din Transilvania în epoca emancipării (1790 -1967), Editura Enciclopedică, Bukarest,
2000, p. 211. 49
Although the Catholic Church objected to the introduction of civil marriage as one impairing its rights, the same
was used for reference to reject the third anti-Jewish law. Esztergom Archbishop Jusztinián Serédi spoke at the 18 July, 1941 session of the Upper House as follows: ‘The law 1894: XXXI was a grave mistake, when it referred marriage to within the scope of the state: the present draft supporting it is consistent in the same mistake as it
19
The above laws meant safety for the Jews although they could not protect them from local acts of ‘bravad ‘bravado’ as we could see in the case of Móric Hetman of Csíkszereda. Despite that, the Jews were considered having equal rights with Christians at court and they represented an integral part of Csíkszereda. It can also be followed in the articles of local papers; their advertisements were published in the papers, notifications of the Jews’ marriage or death were also customary, while they took every opportunity to donate for public causes. The following advertisements can be read in the Csíki Papers: ‘Clothes for men, ladies, boys and children in the shop of József Mózes in the new Grünwald house in Kossuth Lajos street.’ ‘Main warehouse of the Niszel brothers distributors of Dréher be beer at Csíkszereda.’50 ‘Phonographs with waking device sold by Ignácz Ackermann.’ An advertisement for tinsmith Berkovics and Kóka appeared in almost every issue in 1921.51 Marriage notices were also frequent: ‘Emil Friedlander, timber merchant at Csíkszereda celebrates his marriage to Ms. Ella Schuller in Paşcani (Romania) on 11 August this year.’ Applications for changing somebody’s name were also published in the papers expressing the intention for assimilation: ‘Sámuel Kesztenbaum a resident of Csíkszereda applied to the Hungarian Royal Ministry of the Interior to change his name and that of his dependent children to ‘Kertész’.52 The paper also regularly published the list of donors in different situations. Jews could often be found among them: ‘...the following persons gave donations to the purchase of instruments for the orchestra of the Csíkszereda Voluntary Firemen: The timber plant of Sámuel establishes new obstacles to marriage. On the other hand, the esteemed Bishops’ Bench together Bench together with the Catholic followers is consistent with truth when relying on God’s laws it objects to the new obstacles to marriage in the same way as it objected to the idea of civil marriage earlier.’ A püspöki kar tanácskozásai. Az 1939. évi június hó 10 -ére összehívott országgyűlés felsőházának felsőházának naplója [Meetings of the Bishop’s Bench. The Minutes of the up per up per house of the Parliament convened on 10 June, 1939] (1939-1944). Vol. II. Az Athenaeum Irodalmi és Nyomdai Részvénytársulat nyomása, Bp., 1942.II.k.) p. 283. 50
Csíki Papers, 20 December, 1911, issue 51, 6.
51
Csíki Papers, 6 January, 1921, issue 2, 3.
52
Csíki Papers, 2 July, 1913, issue 27, p. 2, apud: Alpár Ferencz S, op.id.
20
Klein, Emil Friedlander (50 Crowns), Samu Fried, Herman Magyar (20 Crowns), Adolf Zimmermann, Gyula Lacher, Dr Manó Zakariás, Adolf Friedman, Jakab Niszel and Lázár Lebovits (10 Crowns), Adolf Niszel and Albert Grünwald (6 Crowns).’53 On selecting their topics of public and social life, the managing editors of the papers took into account that many of their subscribers were Jewish, so you can see frequent articles dealing with issues affecting the Jewry in the period. Such returning topic is the position of the Jewry in Romania. The Csíki Papers often published articles comparing the position of Jews in Hungary and in the Regat assessing the position of the local Jews to be advantageous and condemning at the same time the ‘barbarism’ of Romania’: ‘The position hitting the Jewry in Romania is really insupportable. Every modern state shares the benefits of legal equality with the Jewry. There are only a few backward eastern countries that still allow the social stigma separating the Jewry from Christian people. Romania, however, had got to the gate of civilised states. There is no reason to repel the Jewry on this land.’54 While the Csíki Papers was more of a philo-Semitic attitude, the Csíki News had an opposing view. An article was published in the News a few months later reporting on the struggle of Jews for their rights: ‘the Romanian Jews recently want to achieve equal political and civil rights. The Jews in Romania do not have the same free playing field as elsewhere including our country. The attitude still prevails that the Jews are not citizens (...) and they should only be there as tolerated foreigners. (...) The attitude of Romania is that of self-protection, because they are aware that Jews, particularly the immigrants, may cause more damage than benefit to the state.’ state.’55 Nevertheless, none of the papers uses the style applied by Mózes Vitos in Csík County booklets. On the contrary, Csíki News tries to mitigate the negative n egative attitude of the article stating at the end: ‘Explaining the above, we bow to our Jewish compatriots, who assimilated under the Hungarian aegis share our good or bad fate.’ fate.’56 The orientation did not seem to change emphatically after the Trianon Treaty. Since both nations were in the minority, you can discover an attitude of supporting each other in the articles. 53
Csíki Papers, 15 March, 1911, issue 11,
54
Csíki News, 1 February, 1913, issue issue 5, p. 4. Jews requesting their their rights again. apud: Alpár Ferencz Ferencz S, op.id.
55
Csíki News, 12 July, 1913, issue 28,
56
Csíki News, 12 July, 1913, issue 28,
21
The editorial of issue 12 in 1921 was published under the title Building title Building a new Babel . In it, Ignác Ágoston emphasised: ‘Loving our race and loyalty to our religion does not exclude the altruist love of our fellow men and respecting the religious beliefs of others.’57 Although there are some short news indicating hidden anti-Semitism, they are not outstanding among the many articles on public life. For instance, you can find some aphorisms like that: ‘The money-lender money-lender is like a vampire with the difference that a vampire will leave its victim when it has had enough, while a money-lender can never have enough and will continue to suck. (San-Toy)’ (San-Toy)’58 Although the aphorism is not about the Jews, the concepts of moneylenders and Jews had been linked so much in the public mind that everybody understood the hint.59 Unfortunately, no issues of the Csíki Papers of 1921 to 1936 have remained. The advertisements by the Jews, however, were continued in that period. Several advertisements can be found by Jews from the music events of the Hutter Café to the wine seller of widow Mórné Mó rné Grishaber wholesale wine merchant at the Daradics-house.60 The period between the two world wars, however, was more and more characterised by escalating anti-Semitism in Romania. The Goga-Cuza Government, which came into power on 29 December, 1937, raised anti-Semitism to the rank of state politics and started to expel the Jews from public life: Jewish papers were banned, licences of pubs were withdrawn, Jews were excluded from public transport, they were forbidden to have Christian household help and, what was the worst, a review of the citizenship of the Jews was ordered. The activities of the Vasgárda (Iron Guard) also contributed to the Jewry feeling threatened in the country. It had led to a gradual disappearance of articles on Jewish topics in the papers of Csík, although Jewish advertisements were still published:
57
Ignác Ágoston: Új Bábelt építünk , Csíki Papers, 1921, issue 12, p. 1.
58
Csíki Papers, 6 January, 1921, issue 1, p. 3.
59
The implication became quite interesting during World War II, when the police took action against ‘profiteers’. In
those cases, the profiteers were not the Jews as it appeared from the lists, but the social response of the articles led to the condemnation of the Jews. 60
Csíki Papers 1291. issue 12, p. 3 and issue 18, p. 6.
22
‘Dr. Miklós Adler physician returned from military service and opened his surgery.’ ‘Dr. Mano Fejér (Emanuel) physician for internal medicine, genecology, paediatrics, skin and venereal patients.’61 On the other hand, it was reported in the 28 July issue that 8 Jewish physicians were placed into availability service in Csík County: Dr. Edvard József of Gyergyóditró, Dr Móric Weisz of Kászonaltíz, Dr Kahan Jenő Pokenaru of Szentdomokos, Dr. Samu Gerson of Gyergyótölgyes, József Berkovics of Csíkszereda, Marcel Harnisch of Úzvölgy, Dr Emil Siegler of Ditró-hodos and József Herskovits of Gyimesközéplok were dismissed from service.62 The Paper also reported in the month preceding the Second Vienna Award that the State Monopoly Treasury ‘closes down all tobacco shops owned by Jews with a 30-day notice.’ notice.’63 The 36th issue of the Paper, however, was published after the Second Vienna Award; and a crack in Christian-Jewish relationship can be felt in its tone. Although a significant number of anti-Jewish articles had not been published earlier, the Paper took over the official government politics from then on and a covered anti-Jewish attach could already be found in the first issue after the political takeover: The author said ‘only a few days have passed since the Vienna Award, but those few days have triggered a stream of price increases in the commerce of the town.’ Therefore, it urged quick and strict measures noting ‘it is a first rate racial obligation today to be understood both by traders and consumers.’64 In spite of the above, the tricolour flagpoles by Salamon Alter were still advertised in the same issue.65 The ‘return’ of Northern Transylvania resulted in satisfaction in the majority of the Transylvanian Jewry, who hoped they would be freed from increasing humiliations by Romania.66 Since, however, they had no information on the situation in Hungary, their happiness proved to be premature: the Jews in Northern Transylvania had actually got into a worse
61
Csíki Papers, 14 July, 1940, issue 27, p. 3.
62
Csíki Papers, 11 August, August, 1940, issue issue 32, p. 4.
63
Csíki Papers, 18 August, August, 1940, issue issue 33, p. 4.
64
Csíki Papers, 8 September, 1940, issue 36, p. 3.
65
Ibidem, p. 4.
66
Braham, op.id. I. p. 144.
23
situation after the ‘return’ than their fellow citizens remaining on the territory of Romania. Roman ia.67 At the time of the Second Vienna Award, on 30 August, 1940, the first two anti-Jewish laws68 had already been in effect in Hungary, which were immediately applied to the Jews of Northern Transylvania after the military occupation of the region. Jewish illusions on the improvement of their status as a result of the change of power quickly vanished. Jewish papers, leagues or federations were banned. The anti-Jewish measures of military authorities were even supplemented by the civil authorities. The Hungarian press of Transylvania was reorganised, which resulted in newspapers becoming the trumpets of the right wing. Although the Transylvanian Papers had used antiSemitic attitudes ever since its foundations in 1932, the papers published in smaller towns have not published any open anti-Jewish attacks until the political change. Then together with larger papers (such as for instance, the Hitel [Credit], [Credit], Pásztortűz [Shepherd's Fire] or the Katolikus Szemle [Catholic Review]) journalists at small towns took over a tone of humiliation of the Jews under the aegis of racial protection. Such papers included Szamosvölgye of Dés, Székely Szó of Sepsiszentgyörgy or Gyergyói Lapok of Gyergyószentmiklós.
67
Ibidem, p. 143.
68
Act No. 1938/XV, or First anti- Jewish Law “ A “ A társadalmi és gazdasági élet egyensúlyának hatályosabb
biztosításáról ” [‘On the more effective provision of the balance of social and economic life’ ] took effect on 29 May, 1938. The law provided the ratio of Jews could not exceed 20% in the liberal professions or at companies employing more than 10 people. Act No. 1939:IV „a „a zsidók közéleti és gazdasági térfoglalásának korlátozásáról ” [‘On [‘ On restricting the penetration of ], Jews in public and economic life’ ],
or the Second Anti-Jewish Law was published a year later, on 5 May. The law
provided Jews could not obtain Hungarian H ungarian citizenship either by naturalisation or by marriage, it banned them from civil service, it provided judges and prosecutors of Jewish descent had to be placed in retirement and teachers at high schools, elementary schools and public notaries had to be dismissed. The ratio of Jews was maximised in 6% in the liberal professions, but Jews could not be directors or managers either in film production or at theatres or at the media. The law identified in detail who was to be regarded Jewish. A person was deemed Jewish if he/she, at least one of his/her parents or at least two of his/her grandparents were the members of the Israelite confession when the law took effect or before that. (Cf. Braham, op.id. pp. 106 and 130)
24
It is interesting to note that Csíkszereda papers were more reserved in that regard. Although articles disapproving the behaviour of the Jews were published from 1940 to 1944 and the Csíki Papers took over the ‘imported spirit of decorousness’ emphasising the protection of Sekler blood, you can hardly find any openly abusive or inciting articles in the whole of five volumes. Two interesting facts can be observed in the period: at first, immediately after the political takeover, the ‘racial consciousness’ consciousness’ is strongly emphasised and celebratory addresses with loyalty to the nation as their main motive are often quoted in full. At the same time, articles on Jewish topics disappeared from the papers, as if the Jews were not members of the society of the town any longer. Quite few advertisements are published by Jews compared to previous years, because you can find only four advertisements in the period from 30 August, 1940 to 1944 while there had been several advertisements in almost every issue in the 1920s. In them Jewish physicians - Dr József Berkovits and Dr Manó János Fejér informed their patients they had returned from military service and opened their practice. In the first issue of the 1941 volume restaurateur Jenő Neumann wished its customers a Happy New Year. Previously the papers reported on the position of Romanian Jews as well, then however, the decrees of the town commandeer relating to Jews were not published. Let us review how the first issues after the ‘return’ related to the new situation. For instance, in issue No. 41 of 13 October, 1940 the welcoming address to Miklós Horthy by Archdeacon Ferenc Bíró known of his anti-Semitic attacks was published on the first page. Although the address was not anti-Jewish, it reiterated the usual right-wing slogans: ‘A nation can only honour the great values of human life, freedom, esteem of its race and the love it involves if that nation has been in possession of those values for hundreds of years. (...) We preserved and saved our love of freedom at the time of oppression’ – a – at that time ‘the awareness of our our race has been clarified even more.’69 That initial period was characterised by inauguration of national flags and great celebratory addresses most of them including anti-Jewish attacks. However, the articles and addresses did not so much strive to attack the Jews but to glorify the own nation, the own blood: ‘now, on the occasion of the return, we have to emphasise the objective of the paper is to keep 69
Csíki Papers, 13 October, 1940, issue 41, p. 1.
25
awake the Sekler s’ s’ racial consciousness.’ consciousness.’70 Nevertheless, the article identified the political orientation orientation of the paper too: ‘the Sekler nation must have its place in a strong right wing in national politics’.71 Different celebratory addresses provided opportunities for the locals to express their animosity towards the Jewry, and the papers also cited some of those in the beginning. In the articles the nobility of the Hungarian national spirit, the glory and struggles of the Sekler nation were emphasised, but obeisance to the racist ideal can also be found in the addresses either hidden or more openly. A statement by the Romanian press according to which the Sekler Land was crying to return under Romanian rule resulted in huge protest: over 10 thousand people took an oath to the Hungarian flag when a national flag was inaugurated at Csíkszereda on 12 January, 1941. The address by Ferenc Bíró at the event and its reception reflects to a certain extent the ideas of the representatives of the church and their impact on the public at Csíkszereda. According to the journalist, ‘The huge crowd huge crowd broke into applause after each of his words’.72 He said ‘...every nation should safeguard its spirit to keep it clear and strong. (...) the twelfth hour of the revolution struck: liberalism and free masonry proliferating under its pretext have finished their work destroying religion religion and nation: they deserve a dishonourable grave.’73 As you can see, Bíró voiced the slogans of classical anti-Semitism identifying the Jews with liberalism and free masonry and although the paper did not publish the other parts of his address, it was obvious he was able to take control of its audience, i.e., the ideas voiced by him were favourably received. On the other hand, it should be noted that no right-wing statements affirmative of racism can be found in any addresses by canon Dr. Lajos Csipak. A visit by army chaplain István Zadravecz74 at Csíkszereda and his pilgrimage at Csíksomlyó are similarly interesting. So many people took part at the mass held on the occasion 70
Csíki Papers, 27 October, 1940, issue 43, p. 1.
71
Ibidem
72
Csíki Papers, 9 January, 1941, issue 3, p. 3.
73
Ibidem
74
István János Uzdóczy Zadravecz (1884-1965) a Franciscan monk, one of the founders of the Anti-Bolshevik
Committee and the Etelköz Federation, the Roman Catholic army chaplain of the Prónay Commando and the
26
of his visit that the majority of the followers could not fit into the church. 75 Therefore, there were some villages, where he delivered 3-4 addresses in the course of his pilgrimage. The papers only published articles openly attacking the Jews infrequently. They rather practised a method of hints, in which they did not speak of Jews but of liberals, free masons, Bolsheviks or money-lenders or profiteers. That is why the following quotation delivered by lieutenant-colonel Ferenc Virág when recruits took their oath after deliberation can be deemed an unusual example: ‘That impostor, swindler swindler race did not hesitate to wring the arms from the hands of noble Seklers from behind to promote its own material advantage when we were shedding our blood on the battlefield and fought for our beautiful beautif ul country.’ Such articles were, however, infrequent and you could see them immediately after the change of power and then later in the course of 1944. They, however, express the political opinion of the paper. The same, however, did not prevent the editor-in-chief of the paper to remember in issue 45 a famous physician of the city, Hugó Hirsch, a converted Jew who moved to Kolozsvár with his wife. The surgeon Hugó Hirsch settled at Csíkszereda during World War 1, and gained acknowledgement among the people with his innovative procedures and with his generosity. Hugó Hirsch represented the assimilated Jews at the city, he had been baptised and had a close connection with the Catholic Church and was an honorary member of the Franciscan Order. Although he was regarded a Jew all the time – time – ‘and ‘and it was often told him in no uncertain terms’76 the people of Csík trusted and respected him. He set up a surgical ward of the hospital in 1912 at Csíkszereda, he introduced X-ray and laboratory tests, and then he set up his own institution doubling the number of hospital beds in the city in that way. Named Hirsch Sanatorium, the institution had become known all over Transylvania. Since he treated the poor at low rates or even free of charge, and because he was kind to children, many loved him in the town. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of his operation Hungarian Royal Army, the member of the Upper House of the Parliament, church speaker and author and popular priest was known of his ‘Anti‘Anti -Bolshevist’ views. 75
‘Even the big churches at Ditró and Csíksomlyó taking 8,000 people proved to be too small.’ 2 March, 1941, issue
9, p. 3. 76
Dr András Nagy, Városkép és ami hozzá tartozik [The city and what belongs to it], Pallas-Akadémia, Csíkszereda,
1995, p. 57.
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