A rare document printed in stencil and signed by the heads of the Eretz Israel office in Budapest dealing with the exemption of the office 'in charge', in which the committee leaders apologize that they reserve the right to remove one of the officers due to ignoring their requests for treatment of Jewish refugees. Budapest February 11, 1943. Hungarian.
In the years 1943-1944, a difficult political struggle took place over the two most important centers of power in Budapest: the Rescue Committee and the Israeli Ministry . At the beginning of World War II, the Palestine Office in Budapest became a major immigration office for Jews from Czechoslovakia, Austria, Germany, Poland, and Yugoslavia, which, as German-occupied lands, were considered enemy territory and were therefore excluded from licensing. The main role of the committee in the Ministry of Palestine, was to distribute the aliyah licenses that came from the the land of israel according to the political power of each movement and movement in the four member parties of the "Mizrahi" Zionist Organization, "Hashomer Hatzair", the "General Zionists", and "the Union". (In accordance with the political power received by the various parties at the Zionist Congress of 1939). The composition of the Palestine Committee was also determined in accordance with the relative political power. (The committee usually numbered 11 members).
The other power center, the Relief and Rescue Committee , was established in early 1943, with the liaison with the Bureau in Constantinople. There was a constant debate between these two centers of power over the appointment of members to the various committees, as each member preferred to assist his party members in the escape attempts, and in increasing the number of aliyah licenses of his own movement. The Palestine Office was the only official place in Budapest where refugees could reach without being apprehended by the foreign police. His manager, Mr. Moshe Krauss, had an agreement with the authorities to turn a blind eye and not look for refugees living in his office under false names and candidates for aliyah. Authorities helped him free people from labor camps, arrested refugees, members who lived underground, if he proved they had licenses for it. They even helped him to forge refugee passports. In this way he laid the foundation for the great rescue operation that began in July 1944. On the other hand, Krauss encountered difficulties arising from the intervention of the representatives in Constantinople and the settlement in Israel to change the composition of the Palestine Committee, and to reduce his own powers. Krauss operated under severe pressure from many groups in Hungary itself and in neighboring countries (Slovakia, Zagreb) who sought life through immigration to Israel. However, the ministry succeeded considerably - in all of 1943 there was an increase in January and February in which 120 people immigrated and from October 1943 to March 1944 about 50 to 60 people immigrated every week. Most of the immigrants were refugees who were in danger in Hungary.
The late Holocaust researcher Asher Cohen wrote in his book that: "The issue of the Palestine Relief Committee and the Ministry of Palestine and various actions of the Palestine delegation in Constantinople have not yet been thoroughly examined in the tools of historical research." In all the years of the war " (Cohen Asher, the Zionist pioneering underground in Hungary, 1942-1945. HaKibbutz HaMeuchad Publishing, 1984 pp. 10-11).
[1] leaf. 30x21 cm. Filing holes. Good condition.
.
