09—Jewish assets and denunciations.

The Hungarian population corrupted by power, the middle class realised that it was not necessarily necessary to work for a living, it was easier to simply take the Jews' property, real estate or shops with the powerful support of the state. They were often happy to share in the deportees' possessions, and the rush for valuables began immediately after their removal.

Interesting documents of the wartime redistribution of wealth are the petitions that testify to the greed with which some members of the majority society seized the property taken from the Jews. The ghettoisation and the housing, shops and factories left behind captured the imagination of many. Neighbours and acquaintances besieged the authorities with petitions to obtain an object of value, a musical instrument or a piece of furniture. The most valuable prize was real estate, which was in great demand, partly because of poor housing conditions, partly because of wartime bombings and partly to house the increasing numbers of refugees. After the German occupation, the Jews' homes were claimed, but sometimes they were looted or occupied without waiting for a legal injunction. 

In addition to claims of a material nature, there were also many denunciations motivated by profit, personal conflict, ideological commitment or malice seeking recognition by the authorities. It is also possible that someone wanted to cover up the shadow of suspicion cast on him by implicating others.

The looting of the Hajdúnánás ghetto (Hajdúnánás, 1944). The local population carries away the belongings left behind from the ghetto after the Jews were transferred to the Debrecen concentration camp on June 17, 1944.

KLACSMANN BORBÁLA

Holocaust Stories, Park Publishers, 2023, 87

Letter of Albert Viscount Turvölgyi, Government Commissioner for the "solution of the material and property rights of the Jews" to the branches of the Finance Directorate, July 1944:

I call upon the Treasury Department (branch) to pay into the postal savings bank account indicated (Jewish Property Deposit Account) the cash deposited by the Jews, the proceeds from the sale of the movable property left behind by them, and any funds in connection with the property of the Jews in general. (...)

KLACSMANN BORBÁLA

Holocaust Stories, Park Publishers, 2023, 103

Letter of József Horváth to the magistrate of Gödöllő, 3 July 1943:

I respectfully declare my claim as a neighbouring property owner in Gödöllő to the Jewish ploughing property in our neighbourhood.

KLACSMANN BORBÁLA

Holocaust Stories, Park Publishers, 2023, 49

Letter from József Schuk to the land registry office in Alsógöd, 1944:

Although I am an ancestral Catholic, but as I am unable to obtain the documents of my ancestors due to my advanced age, I am, however painful, going Jewish, and thus, in accordance with my duty, I humbly declare that I own a 420 square meter villa in Alsógöd, 28th Street, under land register number 166, and I ask to have this recorded in my land register.

KLACSMANN BORBÁLA

Holocaust Stories, Park Publishers, 2023, 178

Anonymous report from Veresegyháza, 1944. May:

The wife of Dr. Károly Luttor, a general practitioner, goes to Jews, is on good terms with Jews and goes with them. She made the statement that "you have nothing to fear because you are a National Socialist.

KLACSMANN BORBÁLA

Holocaust Stories, Park Publishers, 2023, 54

Letter from Béla Czóbel, chief notary of Alag, to András Fék, chief bailiff of Vác, 18 April 1944

I denounce Erzsébet Sugár, a resident of Alag, who, to my knowledge, is Jewish and does not wear the yellow star required by the decree.