22 Iyar 5704 – May 15 1944
Though the Germans had been systematically annihilating most European countries’Jewish population for years, in Hungary the Jews lived in relative security until 1944. As an ally of Germany, Hungary had adopted its own version of the Nuremberg Laws, discriminating against its Jews without officially subjecting them to physical abuse. Jews from war-torn Europe actually sought refuge in there, until in 1944 the Nazi regime seized the reins of power from the government of Miklos Horthy and began “deal” with Hungary’s Jewish “problem.” With German defeat already in sight, community leaders attempted to bargain for Jewish lives with senior Nazi officials in various morally controversial negotiations, but only small numbers escaped Hitler’s clutches. Starting from May 15 1944, the vast majority of Hungarian Jewry – Europe’s third largest concentration of Jews after Poland and Russia – was deported to extermination camps in Poland. Close to half a million Hungarian Jews were murdered in the space of six weeks.