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Christianity and the Holocaust of Hungarian Jewry

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The author, a Hungarian Jew who survived the holocaust, provides a well written and well documented account of Christian anti-Semitism in Hungary, focusing on the years from 1880 to 1944. He traces the roots of modern Hungarian anti-Semitism to a widely believed accusation of Jewish ritual murder made in 1882. The anti-Semitic sentiment which crystallized around this incident soon became a powerful force in politics and an explicit organizing theme for Hungarian Christians. The book goes on to show how religious arguments played a crucial role in the passing of increasingly harsh anti-Semitic legislation in the years leading up to the war. Herczl builds his case using extensive quotes from church members from all of the major Christian denominations involved in this debate and provides evidence showing that their actions were sanctioned by those at the highest levels of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. These quotes amply support the author's contention that for the Hungarian churches, anti-Semitism remained "a matter of principle, not opportunism." The most extreme result of this racist-Christian milieu before the German takeover was the formation of the clero-fascist Arrow Cross party. The final chapter of the book is devoted to the year 1944 and deals with the Nazi's takeover of the government and the final deportation of the Jewish population, events for which Christianity had paved the way.