Anti-Semitism pushing out Hungarian Jews, Vienna community says
Anti-Semitism in Hungary is causing an influx of Jewish
immigrants to Austria, the head of Vienna’s Jewish community reportedly said.
“I am pleased people are coming but the circumstances
that force them to leave Hungary due to the political situation, due to
anti-Semitism, don’t please me at all,” Oskar Deutsch, president of the Vienna
Jewish community, is quoted as telling the Austrian Press Agency, APA.
Ariel Muzicant, Deutsch’s predecessor as leader of
Austria’s Jewish community of roughly 8,000, told JTA his community has begun
offering assistance to Hungarian Jews wishing to leave, including language
courses and help in finding employment, housing and Jewish education.
Currently, the community is assisting some 20 families that are either in
Hungary and preparing to leave, or newly arrived in Vienna.
“We are a wealthy community and in a position to help, as
we have always helped, our neighboring communities,” Muzicant said.
Deutsch is quoted as saying that the Jewish Community of
Vienna is planning to bring more than 150 Jewish families a year from Hungary,
which has a Jewish population of roughly 90,000. It is part of a larger plan by
Deutsch to infuse the community with 5,000 new members over the coming few
years.
“We believe, and statistics also show this, that unless
new members join, our community will die out,” APA quoted Deutsch as saying in
an article which appeared last week.
He is quoted as saying that Austrian Interior Minister
Johanna Mikl-Leitner and Vienna Mayor Michael Häupl have offered "every
assistance" in facilitating the community’s immigration plan.
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