Claim:
The first antisemitic legislation was passed in Hungary.
Rebuttal:
The claim is false, several other countries had passed antisemitic laws before Hungary’s numerus clausus.
In the Middle Ages almost all countries had antisemitic laws. In Romania the legal emancipation of Jews was only carried out after 1918 and then only due to the insistence of the entente powers. The Hungarian numerus clausus laws in Hungary were in harmony with the generally segregationist zeitgeist, other countries had passed similar much sooner. Russia passed its numerus clausus laws in 1887, Romania in 1893, which were then abolished in 1917 and 1920 respectively, but discrimination against Jewish citizens remained widespread. In Poland starting in 1922 half of the university faculties either completely refrained from admitting Jewish students or limited their numbers in their own regulations. What is true, however, is that this was among the first similar laws passed after WW1.
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