State persecution · Hungary · 1938–1945
Hungarian laws persecuted Jews before German occupation; occupation then enabled mass deportation.
Explore HungaryPublished by WTJPublication updated
1938–1945
State persecution · The country’s own rules prepare the exclusion
Hungarian laws persecuted Jews before German occupation; occupation then enabled mass deportation.
The laws before occupation
Hungary introduced successive anti-Jewish laws from 1938. They restricted professions and economic activity, then defined Jews in racial terms and barred certain marriages. These measures were decisions of Hungary’s own government. Nazi occupation was not required for the state to strip Jewish citizens of opportunities.
Deportation in 1944
Germany occupied Hungary in March 1944. German officials and Hungarian authorities organized the concentration and deportation of Jews, overwhelmingly to Auschwitz. Hungarian gendarmes and administrators were essential participants. The speed of the operation depended on institutions that identified, confined and transported people.
Budapest’s threatened survivors
In Budapest, protective documents and shelter organized by diplomats and other helpers saved some Jews. Raoul Wallenberg was one participant in those efforts. Later Arrow Cross violence added another danger. Rescue required specific action against persecuting authorities and cannot stand in for the fate of the whole community.