User:OnBeyondZebrax/sandbox/History of the Jews in Hungary

The first historical document relating to the Jews of Hungary is a letter written about 960 A.D.At the Synod of Buda (1279), held in the reign of King Ladislaus IV of Hungary (1272–1290), it was decreed that every Jew appearing in public should wear a piece of red cloth. During the time of the Black Death (1349), they were expelled from the country. King Ladislaus II (1490–1516) burned Jews at the stake, many being executed at Nagyszombat (Trnava) in 1494, on suspicion of ritual murder. As the lord of Bösing (Pezinok) was in debt to the Jews, a blood accusation was brought against these creditors in 1529. The Jews living in the parts of Hungary occupied by the Ottoman Empire were treated far better than those living under the Habsburgs. In 1572, King Maximilian II (1563–1576) intended to expel the Jews. A law promulgated by the Diet of 1645 stated Jews excluded from the privileges of the country, that they were unbelievers, and had no conscience. When imperial troops recaptured Buda in 1686, most Jewish residents were massacred. The lot of the Jews was not improved under the reign of Leopold's son, Charles III (1711–1740). During the reign of Queen Maria Theresa (1740–1780), the Jews were expelled from Buda (1746). Joseph II (1780–1790) wiped out the decrees that had oppressed the Jews for centuries. After the death of Joseph II the royal free cities showed a very hostile attitude toward the Jews. The emancipation of the Jews, was granted by the national assembly in 1849.

The Jews of Hungary were fairly well integrated into Hungarian society by the time of the First World War. Resentment of this Jewish trend of success was widespread. Anti-Jewish policies grew more repressive in the interwar period as Hungary's leaders, who remained committed to regaining the lost territories of "Greater Hungary", chose to align themselves (albeit warily) with the fascist governments of Germany and Italy – the international actors most likely to stand behind Hungary's claims. Starting in 1938, Hungary under Miklós Horthy passed a series of anti-Jewish measures in emulation of Germany's Nürnberg Laws. The vast majority of Jews who were deported were massacred in Kameniec-Podolsk (Kamianets-Podilskyi). In the massacres of Újvidék (Novi Sad) and villages nearby, 2,550–2,850 Serbs, 700–1,250 Jews and 60–130 others were murdered by the Hungarian Army and "Csendőrség" (Gendarmerie) in January 1942. A Jew living in the Hungarian countryside in March 1944 had a less than 10% chance of surviving the following 12 months. In Budapest, a Jew's chance of survival of the same 12 months was about 50%. SS Obersturmbannführer Adolf Eichmann, rounded up Jews from the Hungarian provinces outside Budapest and its suburbs. The first transports to Auschwitz began in early May 1944 and continued even as Soviet troops approached.