The Amendment of the Numerus Clausus Law and the Restoration of the Explicit Jewish Quota

The proponents of the numerus clausus law often said that the law was created by the will of a majority in parliament. This was true in that the majority of those present for the parliamentary vote did indeed vote in the affirmative. However, very few of the 219 deputies were present at the vote—a mere 64 in fact—of whom 59 (which is to say only 26 percent of the total number of deputies) voted for the law. The Smallholder deputies left the chamber before the vote because, although their party opposed the law, their members could not—as part of the governing coalition—vote against it. ¹ As the Smallholder György Vasadi Balogh said, the law was passed “to the secret disapproval of many” even if only very few people dared “openly oppose” it. ² István Bethlen did not even go to parliament on the day of the vote, and although Kunó Klebelsberg was present at the reading of the law, he left the chamber before the vote because, as he later said, he did not agree with its wording. ³ The majority of the government ministers also did not attend the vote.