There was a short-lived Communist regime in Hungary in 1919, and when it collapsed successive governments were ferociously anti-Communist. Against this background, on July 22nd, 1932, Budapest Police arrested two leading Communist politicians under an emergency decree passed in September 1931.

The two Communists, Emery Sallai and Alexander Furst, were “hate figures” for the government and were charged with “conspiring to overthrow the Crown by violent means.” Although the judiciary decided there was insufficient evidence to support the charge, they were found guilty after a two-hour trial and hanged on Friday, July 29th, 1932.

The condemned men were both Jews and atheists. On the gallows they shouted, “Long live the dictatorship of the proletariat.”