Recently in the spotlight

János Kulka received the Best Actor award for his starring role in Demimonde.

Demimonde won five awards at the Tiburon International Film Festival

Tiburon is a small, picturesque town north of San Francisco in California. The Tiburon International Film Festival (TIFF) is an annual event in the Bay Area showcasing international films. The festival’s goal is to provide a greater understanding of the world and its many cultures through the artistic medium of film. TIFF’s motto: “Understanding the World through Film.” This year […]

by · April 18, 2016 · Culture
Budapest, as showcased in the city's 2024 Olympic bid video.

Budapest and the Olympics: Creating perceptions of an ultra-liberal, hipster city

Budapest submitted a bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. As a candidate city, the Hungarian capital is competing against Paris, Rome and Los Angeles. The bid was submitted jointly by the General Assembly of Budapest and the Hungarian Olympic Committee; the candidacy is supported strongly by Hungary’s Fidesz government and by Parliament. This week, the organizers published an English-language […]

by · April 17, 2016 · Politics
Hungarian passport

Thousands of Hungarian illegals in the US

US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has an ambitious plan. He wants to deport every illegal immigrant from the United States. There are approximately 11.3 million undocumented aliens in the US, among them an estimated 12 thousand Hungarians. The Orbán government, Hungarian diplomats and Hungarian-American organizations have never acknowledged the existence of illegals, nor admitted the growing Hungarian illegal problem […]

by · April 16, 2016 · Diaspora
A Felház worship event. The photo appears on the group's Facebook page.

Hungary’s Orbán family and religion

On Friday, an unusual video surfaced featuring Gáspár Orbán, the 24 year old son of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Gáspár had hoped to evade media attention, despite being a former professional soccer player and the prime minister’s son. In 2014, he sent a letter to the editor of the 444.hu website requesting that they never write articles about him, […]

by · April 15, 2016 · Culture
János Lázár at Thursday's press conference. Photo: MTI.

Key Fidesz minister suggests Viktor Orbán is an “unprincipled pragmatist”

János Lázár, the Minister overseeing the all-powerful Prime Minister’s Office, took a rare, public swipe at Prime Minister Viktor Orbán today, as he explained to journalists in Budapest how much he disagrees with the government’s decision to allow all shops and commercial establishments to once again open on Sundays. Mr. Lázár had previously been billed by some sources close to […]

by · April 14, 2016 · Politics
Mr. Pereházy (left) coordinates strategy with Hungarian diplomats Mr. László Kálmán (Los Angeles) and Mr. Ferenc Kumin (New York).

Anti-Semitism accusation and far-right actor at the Los Angeles Hungarian House

I never expected that, 70 years after World War II, a Hungarian organization in the United States would be accused of anti-Semitism. California Court documents reveal a long running legal dispute between Steven A. Kőváry, a CPA, and the United Magyar House in Los Angeles. Mr. Kőváry has accused Miklós Pereházy, president, and Ms. Tímea Antal, finance director, of anti-Semitism, […]

by · April 13, 2016 · Antisemitism
The Hungarian parliament debating the repeal of the "blue law" on Tuesday. On the right is Péter Harrach, leader of the Christian Democratic People's Party, which initially spearheaded the now repealed legislation. To the left, Lajos Kósa (Fidesz) and directly behind him Gergely Gulyás (Fidesz). Photo: MTI.

Hungary’s parliament repeals Sunday store closure law, as Fidesz offers righteous indignation

Hungary’s parliament voted by a massive margin (163 yes votes, 11 abstentions and 2 opposed) to repeal a law enacted in March 2015, that shuttered the majority of retail stores and commercial establishments on Sundays.  It took the governing Fidesz party less than 24 hours to announce its intention to repeal the highly unpopular piece of legislation, submit it to […]

by · April 12, 2016 · Politics
A SPAR Supermarket in Budapest. Photo: trademagazin.hu.

Orbán government in tactical retreat — Hungary’s stores permitted to open on Sundays

It speaks volumes about what matters most to Hungarian citizens, when news of the Orbán government’s decision Monday morning to allow all stores and shopping malls to remain open on Sundays is considered to be groundbreaking, headline news–with flashing “breaking news” banners for added impact–on nearly all major Hungarian news sites. Last week, the courts gave the Hungarian Socialist Party […]

by · April 11, 2016 · Politics
Signs at Kolozsvár/Cluj city limits are currently unilingual (in Romanian only). Hungarian activists are calling for bilingual signs, and this is how they imagine one would look like...

Cluj Napoca — A case study on local activists’ struggle for bilingual signs in Kolozsvár

The Hungarian Free Press has covered the efforts of an activist group in Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca), called Musai/Muszáj, to make the cultural capital of this multiethnic region of Romania more bilingual–at least in terms of encouraging the local government to allow for bilingual (Romanian/Hungarian) place name and street signs. András Bethlendi, a lawyer and activist with Musai/Muszáj, shared with our site […]

by · April 8, 2016 · Focus
Bursting Jobbik's bubble... Photo: Áron Süveg.

April 8 – International Romani Day

International Romani Day was first declared in 1990 to celebrate Roma culture and raise awareness of the issues facing Roma people and draw attention to discrimination directed at communities globally. Roma people were targeted for extermination by the Nazis in Europe, at least 200,000 were killed in concentration camps between 1939 and 1945. It is estimated that about a quarter […]

by · April 8, 2016 · Culture