Hungary’s Pázmány Péter Catholic University (PPKE) has become the first institution of higher education in Europe to make Holocaust courses a graduation requirement in all programs offered by the school. This means that PPKE undergraduates are now all required to take two courses, regardless of discipline, namely: an introduction to the Roman Catholic faith and a Holocaust history survey course. […]
On a popular television news talk show called Civil Kaszinó, which airs on the right-wing HírTV network, pro-government intellectuals managed to come up with a remarkably passive aggressive response to something that should have been positive news for all Hungarians: namely, that László Nemes’ film Son of Saul (Saul fia) won the Grand Prix at the Cannes film festival. The 38 […]
Historian Mária Schmidt introduced the mayor of Budapest’s 8th District and local city councillors to the almost completed new Holocaust museum, called the “House of Fates–European Education Centre” (in Hungarian: Sorsok Háza: Európai Oktatási Központ). The interpretive centre, housed in an abandoned train station and created with 6.6 billion forints ($25 million) in state support, relies heavily on personal stories […]
Many of us in the United States are disturbed that the Hungarian Postal Service has recently issued a stamp commemorating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Zita Szeleczky. She is not a role model for today’s Hungarian youth, her support of Hungarian fascism was nothing less than shameful, and as an actress she did not exhibit unusual talents. Who […]
It’s impossible to detach public history and collective memory from contemporary politics. How a society portrays the past is determined by current realities, contemporary values or interests, as well as the dominant, “preferred” narratives of history. But the government and public institutions don’t have a monopoly over the past ; where civic engagement is strong, grassroots organizations and local activists […]
On October 28 six diplomats based in San Francisco gathered at Congregation Emanu-El to discuss the growing anti-Semitism in Europe. “The New Anti-Semitism in Europe” panel attracted close to 200 people at the synagogue, a surprisingly high number, considering that Game 6 of the World Series was playing on a television in a nearby room. European and especially Hungarian anti-Semitism […]
“There’s a country (namely, Hungary), which ever since the late 19th century has had a habit of ridding itself of entire sections of its population. If the targeted groups don’t realize what’s going on quickly enough and if they don’t flee, then their homeland may end up murdering them”–thus begins Örkény Theatre’s summary of its newest play, entitled “This Land […]
Mária Schmidt, a prominent Hungarian pro-government academic, wrote that “the historian cannot project the ideological schemes of his age on the past and cannot observe the past’s narratives with today’s sensibilities.” Ms. Schmidt took issue with the much-maligned “left-liberal intellectuals” who she believes are trying to insert a type of “intellectual terror” into any discussion of twentieth century Hungarian history […]
