The Arrow Cross - Persecution of the Jews During  the  siege,   government - approved   crimes   were  committed  against Hungarian  citizens (deemed Jewish),  unprecedented even in comparison to the international   situation  and  circumstances  in  other  European  capitals  under extremist governments.  After a series of failures, in October of 1944, the Arrow Cross  Party  organized the “final solution” of the Jewish problem.  By that time, Hungarian  Jews  were  living  only  in  Budapest  and  forced-labor  camps; the Jews from the countryside  had  already  been  deported  to  Germany.   For  Szálasi and his leaders,  the “final solution”, ridding Hungary of its entire Jewish population, was ideologically more important than winning the war.  Only this could explain the  irrational  actions  taken  for  solely  one  purpose: to humiliate and destroy those  who  were  deemed  Jewish.  After  the Arrow Cross took power, the situation  in Budapest gradually became unbearable: daily mass executions were carried out, often on the street in broad daylight, in front of the eyes of ordinary bystanders.  The  first  Jewish  suicide  was  registered  on  October 15, the first mass execution occurred on November 23, on the Danube bank.  Sometimes the Danube  executions  had  several  survivors,  the  darkness  made  it  difficult to aim,  and  some victims jumped into the river before the shots were fired.  Such survivors scrambled out of the icy water further down the river. After an appeal by  the  International  Red  Cross, the Swedish Embassy was the first to react to the situation  by issuing letters of protection.  Following this, Raoul Wallenberg, sent  to  Hungary  by  the  Swedish  government  and  the  American  Office for Refugees of  War, took the initiative to produce protective passports.  According to these documents, the bearers of the passports held special importance for the Swedish  Red Cross or the Swedish government, thus the individual enjoyed the privilege  of  protection  by  the Swedish Monarchy.  Such documents were later issued  by the Swiss, Spanish  and Portuguese Embassies. As early as November 18, 1944, a  separated  living  area  was  being  designated  for the unprotected Jews  in  the VII. district  of the city.  Gábor Vajna, Minister of Domestic Affairs, officially ordered  the establishment of a ghetto on November 29.  On December 2,  all  Jews  lacking protective letters were forced to move into the Ghetto.  The area   was   completely   closed  off  and  it  could  only  be  entered  through  4 designated  gates.   60,000  people  shared  4,513  apartments, often 14 people were  crammed  into one room.  The officially designated calorie intake for each was  900, this  was  later suplemented  by the Jewish Council and donations from the neutral governments’ embassies.  However, in practice, one ration contained not  more  than  790  calories.  By  January  16,  the  Soviet troops reached the Nagykörút,  and  as  a  reaction  to this, members of the Arrow Cross planned a pogrom to destroy the Ghetto.  However, the plan fell through as it was blocked  by  the  leadership  of  the  very same Arrow Cross Party. In spite of this,  the  suffering  of the Jews of Budapest was far from over.  Members of the Arrow  Cross  committed  various  atrocities  in  Buda  until  the  fall  of  the blockade.  There  were  38,000  citizens of Budapest who died during the siege, about 15,000 of those were Jewish.   The flyer of the Arrow Cross Party, 1944 Source: National Széchényi Library 17 October residents of the 8th district bearing the star of David are  herded to the Tattersaal 18 October Gábor Vajna, Interior Minister, temporarily suspends  recognition of the letters of protection 20 October the first deportation march to concentration camps 21 October the papal nuncio’s negotiation with Szalasi regarding the deportations 22 October residents with the star of David are ordered to dig trenches 12 November the first mass murder (of Jews) at the XIV district  Arrow Cross party headquarters 15 November setting up the first 'international ghetto' 17 November the first memorandum by the papal nuncio and the ambassadors about the deportations  18 November the first steps are made to set up the VIIth district ghetto 21 November Gábor Vajna, Interior Minister gives official orders to set up the VII district ghetto 23 November police reports mentions the first killings on the bank of the Danube 25 November Jusztinián Serédi protests at Szálasi against the persecution of Jews 29 November forced-labor service companies are made up from men of military age bearing letters of protection being deported to Germany 29 November Giorgo Perlasca begins his rescue operation as a false Spanish agent 1 December László Ravasz protests at Szálasi against the persecution of Jews 23 December the the papal  nuncio and the embassadors second memorandum about the deportations of jews  28 December some of the patients from the Bethlen Hospital are executed by Arrow cross members and SS soldiers on the banks of the Danube 31 December Hungarian clerks working in the offices of the Swiss Embassy and the offices of the Swedish Embassy on Jokai Street are captured and killed  The end of  December the  begining of  January, 1945 almost every day during the first few weeks of January, especially the in evening hours and late at night  executions take place on the banks of the Danube, in the party headquarters of the Arrow Cross, especially in the XIV and IX districts, Jewish prisoners are killed  1 January the delegate of the Arrow Cross Party, Ernő Vajna gives orders to empty the the international ghetto with immediate effect the begining  of January 50-60 corpses of people shot in the neck, are taken to the Institute of Forensic Medicine 3 January István Lőcsei “the ministerial commissioner for the moving together of Jews” gives an order with “immediate effect” to set up 12 Jewish work regiments 4 January Ernő Vajna again gives orders to close down the international ghetto 5 January they begin to drive the residents of the international ghetto to the ghetto of the VIIth district during shelling and bombing by Soviet planes 5 January the memorandum of Raoul Wallenberg about the Budapest Jews to Pfeffer-Wildenbruch 7 January they suspend the closure of the international ghetto after Wallenberg's offer of food  10 January to stop the violence they station 100 policemen in the Ghetto 14 January mass murder by the Arrow Cross in the ghetto (Wesselényi St.) and also at the Hospital in Maros street 14 January Arrow Cross plan to destroy the ghetto 15 January General Schmidhuber, commanding general on the Pest side, to prevent the Arrow Cross plan being carryied out, orders a German garrison to the ghetto 17 January the complete liberation of the VIIth district ghetto 19 January Arrow Cross mass murder at the Alma street hospice 21 January members of the XIIth district Arrow Cross headquarters led by  “Father” Kun kill all the residents in the Hospital on Városmajor Street     A flyer announcing the appeal of Defence Minister Beregfy, December 1945. Source: National Széchényi Library Members of the death squad. Source: Hungarian National Museum Members of the Arrow Cross take machine guns from the arsenal of a German Consular employee, 10 Pasaréti avenue. Source: Hungarian National Museum Members of the Arrow Cross putting up posters.  The second from left is the Minorite friar,  András Kun. Source: Hungarian National Museum A protection letter issued by the Spanish Embassy Source: property Géza Tálas The bodies of the persecuted.  Exhumation in the courtyard of the Maros street hospital. Photo: László Rózsa Source: Museum of Hungarian Photography Two doctors, surrounded by family members of the victims, examine the exhumed bodies.  Maros street, April 22, 1945. Photo: Sándor Ék Source: Hungarian National Museum The identification of the false „Gratis Medical Consultation” service organized by Ara Jerezian. Source: property of Ara Jerezian Dead bodies in the Dohány street Ghetto, February 1945. Photo: Sándor Ék Source: Hungarian National Museum