Newspaper Page Text
Friday, June 24, 1949
THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
Page Five
It Happened in Hungary
Six Zionist Leaders, One Non-Jew Sentenced
For Promoting Mass Migration to Israel
BY MARIA EGGER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency Correspondent
BUDAPEST, (JTA)—Six Zionist leaders and one non-Jew
were this week convicted of organizing and promoting the
illegal mass emigration of Israel-bound Hungarian Jews and
were sentenced by a Hungarian | declared that the defendants were
court to varying sentences ranging
from six months to three years.
Three other defendants were ac
quitted. The tenth was not tried
at the same time because he was
Orthodox and preferred not ap
pearing in court on the Sabbath,
the day on which the trial was
held.
During the. 15-hour trial the
largest court room in Budapest
was jammed with Jews who fol
lowed the proceedings attentively.
No witnesses, other than the de
fendants, were heard. Three of the
nine withdrew earlier confessions
made to the police and two of the
men who withdrew their confes
sions were acquitted. The other
defendants pleaded guilty, either
fully or partially.
The chief defendants, Dr. Bela
Denes, former vice-president of
the dissolved Zionist Federation
and a Mapai leader, and Sandor
Kertesz, Mapam leader, were
sentenced to three-year terms.
Magda Weiss, 19-year-old Zionist j
youth leader, received a two-year-
and-two-month sentence; Meny-
nor Ferd, two years and 6 months;
Sandor Dienes, the non-Jew, and
Miklos Frankfurter, two years and
eight months each; and, Aladar
Felkai, two years and six months.
Sandor Fleischmann and Dr. Bela
Schwartz were acquitted. Jenoe
Franekl, a Mizrachi leader, was
the defendant who was not tried
with the others.
The prosecution, headed by
Guyla Alapy, chief of the Buda
pest office of the Attorney Gen
eral, charged that the defendants
had violated a law passed in 1948
which was aimed at protecting the
Hungarian people from “Anglo-
Saxon propaganda.” Alapy also
Pleading guilty only in the sense
of having violated the Hungarian
law, Miss Weiss asserted that her
future lay in Israel alone.
“tools in the hands of the imper
ialists” and asserted that the funds
used in organizing mass migration
came from the same sources
abroad which support “Ferenc
Nagy, Zolton Pfeiffer and the
Voice of America.” (Mr. Nagy is
a former Hungarian Premier who
fled the country and Mr. Pfeiffer
was head of the Independence
Party before he, too, fled.
Finally, the prosecution pointed
out that the Zionists had been in
contact with “foreign emissaries,”
which he said was a serious situa
tion because it gave the foreigners
an “easy” source of information.
The prosecutor, who called the de
fendants “misled,” pointed out
that Zionism was not the issue of
the trial.
The defense asserted that the
law under which the ten were be
ing tried was aimed not at them
but at “hostile, anti-democratic
elements” and was not applicable
in the case of any of the defen
dants. Defense counsel also analy
zed the background of the defen
dants and the recent history of the
Jews of Hungary as well as the
history of the Zionist movement.
Following the lead of the leftists
among them, the defendants point
ed out that they wished to go to
Israel to build socialism in the
Jewish state and that the migra
tion movement was organized
through the “spiritual leadership”
of the Mapai youth movement. He
denied that any Joint Distribution
Committee funds had been used
to organize the youth movement,
as had been alleged. He pointed
out that until the middle of last
December passports had been is
sued to applicants headed for Is
rael and that after that date an
Hungarian Jewry Reported Bitter
Over Result of Trial
VIENNA, (JTA)—The conviction and sentencing of six Hun
garian Zionist leaders and one non-Jew on charges of promoting
the illegal emigration of Israel-bound Hungarian Jews last week
has shocked Hungarian Jews, it was reported by refugees arriv
ing here. The refugees stated that Hungarian Jewry received the
sentences with bitterness and skepticism about the justice of
the trials.
Jewish sources here assert that Bela Denes, one of the chief
defendants who admitted partial guilt in having given leadership
to Hungarian Zionist youth, has taken no active part in the
leadership of the Hungarian Zionist movement for the past half
year because of illness. He wias scheduled to leave Hungary with
a valid passport,, these same sources asserted. They insisted thaj.
Dr. Denes took no part in the organization of mass emigration
from Hungary, describing the migratory movement as unorgan
ized and absolutely spontaneous.” These sources stated that the
defendants were assigned the same defense counsel as Cardinal
Mindszenty, over their objections.
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extended legal discussion had left i
the status of these people unset
tled, presenting them with no al
ternative but illegal flight.
Mr. Kertesz, a survivor of the
Mauthausen death camp, declared
in his defense that the Jewish
youth could not be restrained, “so
we endeavored to act as traffic
police by organizing the groups
and giving them advice.” He add
ed that he was convinced that it
would have been of no use, even
harmful, to have attempted to re
strained the young migrants.
Both Dr. Denes and Mr. Kertesz
insisted that they were unaware
that they were committing an of
fense because of the “tacit tolera
tion” of the authorities for several
weeks after the voluntary dlssolu-
Yale University to Publish 15-Volume
English Translation of Code of Maimonides
tion of the Zionist Federation.
They also pointed out that they
understood that a list of some 800
Zionist functionaries who had
been promised visas to leave the
country had been drawn up. The
discussion of this list was alleged
by the court to be another illegal
act.
Miss Weiss pleaded guilty, in
one of the most dramatic speeches
heard during the lengthy trial day.
She told the court of her arrest by
the Nazis, a tthe age of 13, and of
her loss of both parents in con
centration camps. She also dis
closed that she had been imprison
ed in the same camp as Chana
Szenes, the Jewish heroine exe
cuted by the Nazis during the war.
NEW HAVEN, Conn., (JTA) |
First volume of an English trans
lation of the Code of Maimonides |
has been published here by Yale
University Press. The book repre
sents the first time that any part
of the famous encyclopedic Code
has ever been translated into any
language from the original He
brew.
Publication of the book inaugu
rates a projected 15-volume trans
lation of the entire medieval Code
that is being prepared under the
auspices of Judaica Research at
Yale University. The volume pub
lished today is “The Book of Civil
Laws”—Book XIII in the Maimon
ides Code. It was translated by
Jacob Rabinowitz, New York at
torney. The other 14 books of this
monumental work are presently
being prepared by a number of
distinguished scholars in this
country and abroad, each respon
sible for one of the books of the
Code.
In his translation, Mr. Rabino
witz aimed at making the Book of
Civil Laws available to modern
jurists as well as to others inter
ested in the legal institutions of
Judaism. The Code is the most
detailed and systematic exposition
of Jewish civil law after the close
of the Talmud. Book XIII contains
five treatises dealing with the laws
of hiring, borrowing and deposit
ing, creditor and debtor, pleading,
and inheritance.
To introduce the Code of Mai
monides to English readers has
been one of the major projects of
Judaica Research at Yale, estab
lished in 1944 by Louis M. Rabino
witz, of New York, for research in
Hebrew lore and literature. Julian
J. Oberman, professor Semitic
Languages at Yale, has directed
Judaica Research from its begin
ning and is editor-in-chief of the
Yale Judaica Series. Associated
with him as editors are Professors
Louis Ginzberg, of the Jewish
Theological Seminary of America,
and Harry A. Wolfson, of Harvard
University.
B’NAI ZION ASK
U. S. TO INTERVENE
IN HUNGARIAN TRIAL
ATLANTIC CITY, (JTA)—A
resolution calling on the State De
partment to intervene in behalf of
Hungarian Zionist leaders senten
ced to prison terms in Budapest on
charges of aiding “illegal emigra
tion” of Jews from Hungary to Is
rael was adopted this week at the
40th annual convention of B’nai
Zion, fraternal Zionist Organiza
tion of America.
Laborites Lay
Cornerstone for
Medical Center
TEL AVTV, (JTA)—A corner
stone for a Red Mogen Dovid
building in Beersheba was laid
here by a delegation of the Jew
ish Labor Committee of New York
which is now visiting Israel. The
building will serve as a first aid
center and clinic for the Negev.
Funds for the structure were do
nated by the Jewish Labor Com
mittee. Adolph Held, chairman cf
J. L. C., and Jacob Pat, executive
secretary, spoke at the ceremony.
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