Recently in the spotlight

Elvis Presley and the 1956 Hungarian Revolution

Elvis Presley and the 1956 Hungarian Revolution

Elvis Presley’s final appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show was on January 6, 1957. CBS censors would not allow his entire body to be shown on live TV, he was seen only from the waist up. 22 years-old Elvis sang seven songs in three segments. Most memorable was his rendition of Peace in the Valley, the famous gospel song as […]

by · October 23, 2016 · Culture
Tom Hanks, with the Budapest Chain Bridge in the background, featured on a pro-government propaganda poster.

Oh, no! Tom Hanks is promoting Orbán’s xenophobe message?

Hollywood superstar Tom Hanks is in Budapest for the shooting of his new movie “Inferno”, a sequel to the blockbuster “The Da Vinci Code.” He loves Budapest and says Mexican food is fabulous in the Hungarian capital. I know his favorite Mexican restaurant, but I cannot tell you. Hanks values his privacy and I swore to the owner that I […]

by · October 21, 2016 · Culture
Viktor Orbán observes a simulated terrorist attack in Budapest, and the subsequent counter-terror response.

Failed referendum boosts Fidesz popularity, as support for Jobbik tumbles

Communication must truly be everything and reality is perhaps little more than a fleeting and malleable perception. The first public opinion poll conducted after the anti-migrant referendum, which failed to reach the minimum turnout threshold to be considered valid, shows major gains for Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s ruling Fidesz party and a marked drop in support for Jobbik–a party that […]

by · October 20, 2016 · Politics
Miklós Horthy

Whatever happened to the 13-year-old boy Miklós Horthy “adopted” in 1956?

In 1956 about 200,000 Hungarian refugees fled to the West–among them 20,000 “unaccompanied minors,” mostly teenagers. These kids travelled alone; many of them came from state orphanages. A great number were apprentices who participated in the fights and also peasant and poor children from the countryside. Lajos Kiss was 13 years old when he escaped from an orphanage at Dorog, […]

by · October 19, 2016 · Culture
Willie Brown will speak at the 60th anniversary commemoration of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution in San Francisco

Willie Brown is the keynote speaker at the 1956 Hungarian Revolution Commemoration in San Francisco

What a surprise! The San Francisco War Memorial Center will host the 60th anniversary commemoration of the 1956 Revolution. On October 23 the keynote speaker will be Willie Brown, the former Speaker of the California State Assembly who was the 41st mayor of San Francisco. The 82-year-old Democrat is a dynamic speaker and overall fantastic guy. I once met Brown […]

by · October 16, 2016 · Culture
The Greens - EFA

European Parliament’s Green party in solidarity with Népszabadság, condemns autocracy in Hungary

The Greens – European Free Alliance issued a statement on the demise of media freedom and pluralism in Hungary, after Népszabadság, Hungary’s largest print daily, was shut down last Saturday. The statement, written by MEPs Judith Sargentini and Benedek Jávor, notes that Népszabadság was closed without warning immediately after the paper published a cover page piece on Fidesz corruption, suggesting […]

by · October 13, 2016 · Politics
Ambassador Bogyay (in the middle) assured American Jewish Committee (AJC) members that Hungary is committed to the fight against anti-Semitism.

UN Ambassador Katalin Bogyay to bamboozle New York Synagogue audience

Katalin Bogyay is the Permanent Representative of Hungary to the United Nations and on Saturday, October 15, the 60-year-old diplomat will be a special guest at a New York synagogue. Sutton Place Synagogue has invited Ms. Bogyay to their Sabbath service to give a talk entitled – Revival of Hungarian Jewish Culture & the Fight Against Anti-Semitism. No doubt Ms. […]

by · October 12, 2016 · Antisemitism
Stevan Harnad

Scholars resign from Hungarian Academy of Sciences after opposition paper shut down

Professor Stevan Harnad of the Université du Québec à Montréal and a founding member of the Canadian Hungarian Democratic Charter, resigned as External Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Magyar Tudományos Akadémia), after Népszabadság, Hungary’s largest opposition daily newspaper, was shut down by the country’s repressive Orbán regime. Professor Harnad’s resignation follows that of the Dr. Thomas Jovin, of Max Planck […]

by · October 10, 2016 · Politics
This image greets readers of Népszava.

Widespread solidarity after deliberate destruction of Hungary’s Népszabadság

Vienna Capital Partners, the Austrian private equity investor, which owns the firm that published Hungary’s now defunct Népszabadság daily, seems to be providing such a stark example of corporate greed and irresponsibility that political foes and economic rivals from all across the spectrum are joining together in protest. Hungarian conservative publications, left-centre publications, a newspaper in Slovakia and even Hungary’s […]

by · October 10, 2016 · Politics
Simulated terrorist attack in a Budapest metro station.

Strongman Orbán’s latest publicity stunt: a midnight terror exercise

I start to think that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his inner circle have lost touch with reality. Police forces conduct anti-terror training exercises in other EU countries, but it is unprecedented that a night-time police drill is staged as a propaganda tool for a sitting Prime Minister. A couple of days ago Mr. Orbán invited journalists and politicians to […]

by · October 9, 2016 · Politics