Holocaust in Hungary

Zoltán Vági is historian and deputy director of the Social Conflicts Research Center at Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest. László Csosz is senior archivist and historian at the Holocaust National Archives in Budapest. Gábor Kádár is senior historian of the Hungarian Jewish Archives, Budapest.

This book is special because the sources it presents are not only explained in the footnotes but contextualized by an introduction that provides commentary. . . .The diversity of sources is particularly remarkable. Official pronouncements, decrees, and reports by perpetrators are contrasted with primary sources that show the victims’ perspective: appeals and assessments by Jewish communities, personal writings (letters, diaries). By including a broad range of the contemporary perceptions of non-Jews the authors also document the (all too often apathetic) knowledge about the crimes committed against the Hungarian Jews. . . .[The book] presents history and historic sources in a very gripping and multi-faceted manner. Readers are not only introduced to the history of the Holocaust in Hungary, but also to the sources with their innumerable aspects and perspectives (perpetrators and victims, official declarations and private accounts). The volume is thus not only useful for Holocaust researchers, but also for classroom teaching and self-study.

• Introduction: The Evolution of a GenocideChapter 1: Laws against the Rule of LawChapter 2: Discrimination, Radicalization, and the First Mass MurdersChapter 3: Blitzkrieg against the Jews Chapter 4: Deportation from the Provinces and the Fate of the Budapest JewsChapter 5: The Arrow Cross RegimeChapter 6: PlunderChapter 7: In the Nazi CampsChapter 8: Jewish Responses to PersecutionChapter 9: Non-Jewish ReactionsChapter 10: Jews in Postwar Hungary