Not all Hungarians are Pro-Nazis
By a C.H. Reporter An Allied woman who does not wish even her nationality disclosed because the people she worked with might he arrested and put to death by the Nazis talked to me in a room looking over the rooftops of andon about her experiences in Hungary.
She escaped there from one of the occupied countries and worked for some time in the underground movement with others of het compatriots who have escaped. Two or three months ago she managed to get to this country by way of Rumania, Bulgaria and Turkey — a great deal of the journey being done on foot although she managed to travel on trains when she could board them away from the big towns.
She arrived in Hungary about March. 1943, and spent seven months there. Here are some of the things she told me:
HUNGARY'S SYMPATHY WITH THE ALLIES
" It's not right to regard Hungary as a pro-Axis country. Among the ordinary people I found a good deal of sympathy for the Allies. Lots of people are learning English, and at the Budapest University the courses in English and English literature are immensely popular. They talk always about the opening or the Second Front, hoping it will soon come.
" There are thousands of internees in Hungary—French, Poles and Italians —and. of course, there are also thou
sands of Jewish refugees from Germany. Those who are interned are in excellent camps and the fond is good.
" Jews in Hungary are not molested at all, in spite of continual protests from the Germans. Poles are quite free, too, and live just as the Hungarians do themselves. In the face of much German opposition, even of demands, the authorities have refused to shut the two Polish schools or to close
down the Polish newsratpers. There are two hundred Poles in the Budapest University.
FOUR SLICES OF BREAD
" Food is not scarce but neither is it plentiful. Bread is rationed to four slices a day for each person; there is no tea or coffee and very little sugar. Only fruit and wine are plentiful; there is meat twice a week.
" Hungarians have not gone willingly to fight with the Germans, and the contrast of their losses. 60.000, with that of Rumania, half-a-million, proves this.
" Hungarians have not forgotten the Bela Kun regime and there is a very real terror of Communism as it was known in Hungary at that time. But that does not mean that they like the Nazi way of life. They want their own freedom and they are keenly sympathetic with the Poles in their struggle.
RUMANIA—IN CONTRAST " Rumania provides a striking contrast to Hungary. Although the army has suffered to the extent of half-amillion, life is quite gay and there is
food in abundance. That is their reward for full collaboration with the Germans. Restaurants and cafes are crowded and Germans are to be seen everywhere. Bulgaria presented another contrast—there is much poverty. Coming to Istanbul, however, was like coming to Paradise—lights everywhere, fond plentiful, everybody happy.
" But "—and this was said very sadly—" I sometimes wonder if resistance lo the Nazis does any good to a country. it is heroic and noble. know, to resist as the Poles have done —but what have they gained ? They have lost three-and-a-half-million of their people—not to speak of the oneand-a-half million who were deported to Russia, and their position is not going to he too happy in the peace. Rig nations cannot understand the position of small nations who have to live be side powerful neighbours. To resist them may only be folly. It may only be abnormal. And it is unfair to judge those who feel they are unable to do so.
" Every day some member of the many underground movements in Europe gives up his or her life for the cause of freedom from the Nazi yoke. But I wonder sometimes—arc we right? the end is not so rosy."
The latest Acts of the Apostolic See contain the brief in which the Pope proclaims St. Catherine of Siena to be auxiliary patron saint of women nurses of Italy, and St. Catherine of Siena auxiliary patron of Italian hospitals.