885096450

JPRS-EER-91-053 25 April 1991

POLITICAL

17

Government madę payments to the Hungarian State because property had also been taken away in Germany. People were madę to work, moreover, there were some, and these people received morę, on whom they con-ducted experiments, and the traces of such experiments remained throughout their lives, sometimes even in their descendants. Incidentally, at that time, the Hungarian Govemment accepted a certain amount, 100 million German marks, to use that money to make payments to Jewish citizens of Hungary.

[Forro] Accordingly, there is proof that the German State has paid a certain amount, but the Hungarian State paid nothing to anybody.

[Raj] Yes.

[Forro] Is this why you claim that the legislative proposal discriminates against the Jewry?

[Raj] We feel that the legislative proposal is discrimina-tory primarily from the standpoint of timing and its subject matter. It is discriminatory from the standpoint of timing because the legislative proposal would indcm-nify those who suffered damagcs later, and this is impos-sible in our view, it amounts to legał nonsense. Along with this, one should not distinguish between the victims of the extreme right and the extremc left dictatorships. We would find it appropriate to deal with the two matters jointly as long as these matters were placed on the agenda.

[Forro] Many bclieve that 8,000 or 9,000 persons are involved, and therefore, it’s not worthwhile to deal with this issue separately.

[Raj] If only a single person existed who must be indemnified morally or in any other way, this must be accomplished, and these 8,000 or 9,000 people also represent those 600,000 people who were destroyed in this country by the Germans and their assistants.

[Forro] Do you feel that it would be possible to rehabil-itate the 600,000 victims of the Hungarian holocaust in some way if these steps were taken?

[Raj] This should have been accomplished by all means after the war, but a discussion of this matter failed to materialize for various reasons.

[Forro] In my introductory remarks I said that this week there were two manifestations which warranted your invitation here. The second manifestation was the pub-lication of a certain book in Miskolc. This is a study written by a gendarme ofificer. This volume contains fascist filth which exceeds even the wildest of night-mares. Have you read this book?

[Raj] I have read the pages I received, presumably the most discriminatory passages. The gravest aspect of this matter is that this writing was published by the Miskolc organization of the MDF [Hungarian Democratic Forum], a party organization which not only is the ruling party, but which in its principles also committed itself to abstain from such manifestations. Accordingly, I feel that those who madę these statements should be seated here at this time.

[Forro] It is part of the truth that in a writing published in NEPSZABADSAG the MDF organization of Miskolc disclaimed this book. They said that their activities were altogether limited to proof reading and grammatical corrections.

[Raj] I feel that this is not simply a mistake the way they claim it to be. This is a crime, and this kind of thing must be avoided in the futurę. Not only the cditors as indi-viduals must disclaim this book, the organization itself must do so.

[Forro] What was your first reaction whcn you read these sentences?

[Raj] I was surprised, evcn though this was not the First case, there also were so-called “private statements” at the time of the elections.

[Forro] I think that the Supreme Prosecutor should order an investigation of this matter in the coming days. On the other hand, the political question is whether the book published in Miskolc is an isolated phenomenon, a simple mistake, clumsiness, or if it was prompted by some morę deep rooted reasons. Notably, should we be concerned that in the wake of indemnification and a worsening economic situation we will witness a newly mounting anti-Semitic wave?

[Raj] I very much hope (they used to say that a Jew should always be an optimist) that this will indeed remain an isolated phenomenon, but care should be taken to prevent a similar incident. This becomes possible only if the official organs and the leadership groups of the various parties publicly delimit themselves from this matter. We are afraid that we are witnessing a restoration which is not desirable, and it is not desirable not only from the standpoint of the Jewry. I object to anti-Semitism, not because I am a Jew, but because as a Jew one may view anti-Semitism as the problem of the country, of society, and not of the Jews. I object to anti-Semitism as a Hungarian, because I feel that the country is deteriorating as a result of anti-Semitism, the country becomes endangered because anti-Semitism is coming to the forefront.

POLAND

Party' Leaders on Parliamentary Elections

91EP0369A Warsaw GAZETA WYBORCZA in Polish 13 Mar 91 p 13

[Commentary by Donald Tusk, Kazimierz Michał Ujazdowski, Włodzimierz Olejnik, and Waldemar Kuczyński compiled by (WZ) and (LAW): “Whose Autumn Will It Be?”]