Last December, Hungary's Constitutional Court canceled a discriminatory compensation law from 1999 that granted about $140 to Jews whose relatives were killed in the Holocaust, a fraction of the amount granted victims of communist terror. Relatives of those executed by the Communists — though far fewer in number — have received $3,300 each.

In protest against the paltry sum, many angry recipients have returned the money, some directly to the prime minister.

A government spokesman said the matter of Jewish compensation probably would not reach a legislative settlement until after next year's general elections in Hungary.

There are about 100,000 Jews living in Hungary — and an estimated 25,000 Hungarian-born Jews living elsewhere who would likely be eligible for compensation.