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*{{cite book |last=Braham |first=Randolph L. |author-link=Randolph L. Braham |title=The Politics of Genocide: The Holocaust in Hungary |volume=1–2 |date=1981 |publisher=Columbia University Press |location=New York |isbn=0-231-04496-8 }} *{{cite book |last=Braham |first=Randolph L. |author-link=Randolph L. Braham |title=The Politics of Genocide: The Holocaust in Hungary |volume=1–2 |date=1981 |publisher=Columbia University Press |location=New York |isbn=0-231-04496-8 }}
*{{cite book |last1=Kádár |first1=Gábor |last2=Vági |first2=Zoltán |editor-last=Kovács |editor-first=András | title=Jewish Studies at the Central European University, 2005–2007 |publisher=] |year=2008 |pages=71–89 |chapter=Compulsion of Bad Choices. Questions, Dilemmas, Decisions: The Activity of the Hungarian Central Jewish Council in 1944 |isbn=978-9637326721 }}
*{{cite journal |last=Molnár |first=Judit |title=The Foundation and Activities of the Hungarian Jewish Council, March 20 – July 7, 1944 |journal=] |volume=30 |issue= |pages=93–123 |year=2002 |issn=0084-3296 }} *{{cite journal |last=Molnár |first=Judit |title=The Foundation and Activities of the Hungarian Jewish Council, March 20 – July 7, 1944 |journal=] |volume=30 |issue= |pages=93–123 |year=2002 |issn=0084-3296 }}
*{{cite book |last=Munkácsi |first=Ernő |author-link=Ernő Munkácsi |title=Hogyan történt? Adatok és okmányok a magyar zsidóság tragédiájához '''' |date=1947 |publisher=Renaissance |location=Budapest |language=hu }} *{{cite book |last=Munkácsi |first=Ernő |author-link=Ernő Munkácsi |title=Hogyan történt? Adatok és okmányok a magyar zsidóság tragédiájához '''' |date=1947 |publisher=Renaissance |location=Budapest |language=hu }}

Revision as of 07:40, 2 August 2024

Hungarian Jewish businessman, banker, advisor
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Samu Stern
Personal life
BornSamu Stern - Hungarian usage Stern Samu
January 5, 1874
Nemesszalók, Austria-Hungary
DiedJune 8, 1946 (aged 72)
Budapest, Hungary
NationalityHungarian
Religious life
ReligionJudaism
DenominationNeolog

Samu Stern (Template:Lang-hu; 5 January 1874 – 8 June 1946) was a businessman, banker, advisor to the royal court, and head of Hungary's Neolog Jewish Community from 1929 to 1945.

After the March 1944 German occupation, Stern was a member of the German-created Jewish Council (Judenrat, Zsidó tanács) along with Orthodox Community leader Pinchas Freudiger. The Jewish Council was among recipients of the Vrba–Wetzler report, also known as the Auschwitz Protocols, the Auschwitz Report. It detailed the atrocities in Auschwitz. Much like Rezső Kasztner (aka Rudolf), members of the Jewish Council failed to publicize the atrocities and warn the Jews of Hungary of their fate. Although Stern supported Jewish causes, he received criticism for dealing willingly with the German occupying authorities and their Hungarian collaborators.

Early life

Samu Stern was born into a Neolog Jewish farming family in Nemesszalók, Veszprém County on 5 January 1874. His parents were Lipót Stern and Fáni Hoffmann. His father farmed on a large estate and traded in agricultural products. Samu Stern attended a yeshiva for two years, but then he enrolled in a trade school, against his parents' wishes.

During the Holocaust

Nazi Germany invaded the Kingdom of Hungary on 19 March 1944. The arriving Germans, altogether was known as the Eichmann-Kommando under the leadership of Adolf Eichmann, Hermann Krumey and Dieter Wisliceny sought to avoid panic in the ranks of the Jewish leadership. Hours after the occupation, Schutzstaffel (SS) officers arrived at Síp utca 12, where PIH was holding its annual general assembly, which abruptly adjourned, when news of the German invasion spread. The Nazis demanded the convening of Neolog and Orthodox religious community leaders for the next day. On the morning of 20 March, they appeared at the headquarters of the PIH, fearing arrest or massacre. There, SS-Obersturmbannführer Hermann Krumey claimed that there will be "restrictions", but there is no need to fear deportation, if a centralized Jewish leadership cooperate. Upon their demand, the Jews presented a list of eight members of a Jewish council (Judenrat) to be set up. According to Stern and Freudiger, the Jewish council was appointed by the Germans, while Ernő Munkácsi, the secretary-general of PIH, the entire list was compiled by Stern. The Nazis insisted on the participation of actual community leaders from all denominations, but Stern granted a free hand to naming the specific people to become council members. Samu Stern and his two colleagues from PIH, Pető and Wilhelm formed an inner circle within the council. In the absence of formal meetings, they made most immediate, emergency decisions.

Samu Stern wrote in his memoirs in 1946 that "I considered it a cowardly, unmanly and irresponsible behavior, a selfish escape and running away, if I let my fellow believers down now, right now, when leadership is needed the most, when the sacrificial work of experienced and politically connected men could perhaps help them". Regarding the latter, Stern trusted his personal connections, above all with Regent Miklós Horthy, whom he had known for two decades. Stern and his colleagues were convinced that they could hold together the network of religious communities and aid organizations, and if they do not lead the council, then a some far less competent and influential staff worsens the Jews' chances of survival.

See also

References

  1. "YIVO | Stern, Samu".
  2. "Dr. Samuel Stern, Leader of Hungarian Jewry, Dies in Budapest". 1946-06-17.
  3. Randolph L. Braham: The Politics of Genocide, 1990, p. 711f.
  4. http://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%206047.pdf
  5. Braham 1981, p. 419.
  6. Braham 1981, p. 421.
  7. Munkácsi 1947, p. 17.
  8. Kádár & Vági 2008, p. 73.
  9. Braham 1981, p. 422.
  10. Schmidt 1990, pp. 60–61.
  11. Kádár & Vági 2008, p. 78.

Sources

  • Braham, Randolph L. (1981). The Politics of Genocide: The Holocaust in Hungary. Vol. 1–2. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-04496-8.
  • Kádár, Gábor; Vági, Zoltán (2008). "Compulsion of Bad Choices. Questions, Dilemmas, Decisions: The Activity of the Hungarian Central Jewish Council in 1944". In Kovács, András (ed.). Jewish Studies at the Central European University, 2005–2007. CEU Press. pp. 71–89. ISBN 978-9637326721.
  • Molnár, Judit (2002). "The Foundation and Activities of the Hungarian Jewish Council, March 20 – July 7, 1944". Yad Vashem Studies. 30: 93–123. ISSN 0084-3296.
  • Munkácsi, Ernő (1947). Hogyan történt? Adatok és okmányok a magyar zsidóság tragédiájához (in Hungarian). Budapest: Renaissance.
  • Schmidt, Mária (1990). Kollaboráció vagy kooperáció? A Budapesti Zsidó Tanács (in Hungarian). Budapest: Minerva. ISBN 963-223-438-3.
  • Veszprémy, László Bernát (2023). Tanácstalanság. A zsidó vezetés Magyarországon és a holokauszt, 1944–1945 (in Hungarian). Budapest: Jaffa Kiadó. ISBN 978-963-475-731-3.

External links

Publications

  • Nathaniel Katzburg, Shemu’el Shtern: Ro’sh kehilat Pesht, in Pedut: Hatsalah bi-yeme sho’ah (Ramat Gan, Isr., 1984)
  • Mária Schmidt, Kollaboráció vagy kooperáció? (Budapest, 1990), pp. 49–111
  • Samu (Samuel) Stern, A Race with Time: A Statement, Hungarian Jewish Studies 3 (1973): 1–48
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