ABSTRACT
During the course of May 1944, there were important shifts in the perception of ghettoization, with the Interior Ministry clearly playing a leading role in directing these changes. Of foremost importance was a telescoping of the timescale within which ghettoization was to be completed. But, in addition, at the meeting held at the Interior Ministry on 26 May, the Budapest ghetto was given a new shape. Rather than segregation being planned at two scales, that of the city and then the ghetto area as was the case with the 9 May plans, it was to be implemented at one scale—that of the apartment building. And the specifics of which apartment building was to be designated for “Jewish” and which for “non-Jewish” use were to be determined on the basis of a citywide survey, rather than census data.
