Collaboration
Very soon after Hitler came to power in Germany, the Hungarian government attempted to build an alliance with Nazi Germany. In March 1938, Hungary began to issue anti-Jewish legislation. Jews were systematically removed from the economy and were distinguished as a racial group. During 1939, all Jewish men of military age were forced to join the Hungarian Labour Service.
In September 1938, following the German annexation of the Sudetenland area of Czechoslovakia, a portion of the area was given to Hungary in order to build relations between the two nations. Over the next three years, as Germany invaded and controlled countries surrounding Hungary, Germany gave Hungary possession of other lands. In 1941 the Hungarian Government passed a law defining who was Jewish and by March of the same year the Jewish population in Hungarian controlled land had reached in excess of 725,000.
Deportations
In June 1941, Hungary joined Germany in the war against the Soviet Union. After the German defeat at Stalingrad, the Hungarian government attempted to pull out of the alliance with Germany. During March 1944, German troops invaded Hungary. Hitler set up a new government faithful to Germany.
A Special unit under the orders of Adolf Eichmann, began implementing the “” within Hungary. Anti-Jewish decrees were passed. Judenraeteete were established across Hungary. A separate one was set up for Budapest, the capital.
Jews had to wear a Star of David and their movement was restricted. Telephones and radios were confiscated, whilst Jewish property and businesses were seized. During April the Jews of Hungary were forced into ghettos. Very soon, the Jews of each ghetto were put on trains and deported. Between 15 May and 9 July 1944, approximately 430,000 Hungarian Jews were deported, mainly to Auschwitz. The majority of them were gassed on arrival; many more died with the camp over the next few months.
By early July 1944, when the deportations were halted, apart from Budapest, the capital, Hungary was . Throughout the spring of 1944, the Relief and Rescue Committee of Budapest began negotiating with the SS to save lives. Many Jews were able to flee Hungary.
The Arrow Cross
Between July and October 1944, the Jews within Budapest lived in relative safety. However, when, on 15 October, the Hungarian government announced they were going to make peace with the Allies, the Germans toppled the government. They gave power to Ferenc Szalasi and his fascist, and antisemitic, Arrow Cross Party. The Arrow Cross began a reign of terror across the city. Almost 80,000 Jews were killed. Many victims were shot on the banks of the Danube River and their bodies thrown in the river. In addition, many thousands were forced on death marches to the Austrian border.
In December 1944, whilst the Soviet Army laid siege to Budapest, around 70,000 Jews were forced into a ghetto. Many thousands died of cold, disease, and starvation.
Deportations from the Netherlands
In July 1942, the Germans began rounding up Jews, sending them to Westerbork on their way to the extermination camps of Auschwitz and Sobibor in occupied Poland, where they were murdered.
The Dutch police actively collaborated and assisted the German authorities in rounding up of Jews on the streets or in their homes.
Dutch railway workers administered and operated the rolling stock in which Jews were deported to and from Westerbork. The last train left Westerbork for Auschwitz-Birkenau on 3 September 1944, by which time 107,000 Jews had been deported. Of this number only 5,200 survived.
Hiding in the Netherlands
Whilst the geography of the Netherlands made escape difficult, between 25,000-30,000 Jews managed to go into hiding assisted by the Dutch underground. Remarkably, of this total, two-thirds of Dutch Jews in hiding managed to survive.