Articles by: Hungarian Free Press

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán...the self-proclaimed "guardian" of the EU's borders? Photo: Viktor Orbán's Facebook page.

The strange emergence of Viktor Orbán as the “guardian” of the EU’s borders

The ongoing refugee crisis has once again highlighted the mismatch between an ever-more-integrated union of 28 societies and a European political structure built primarily around the interests of sovereign states. In this political framework even an issue intimately linked to elementary human rights and European values is being transformed into a series of seemingly intractable distributive conflicts. The emergence of […]

by · September 14, 2015 · Politics
Ferenc Kumin with Rabbi Hoffman in Budapest.

Rabbi Hoffman responds to HFP: Orbán government is a devoted, outstanding friend of Jewish community

Dear Editor, Recently while searching for some news items and articles about Hungarian Jews and the relationship between the Hungarian government and Jewish interests in Hungary and abroad, I was very surprised or rather shocked to read some articles by the author György Lázár in the Hungarian Free Press, in which he is accusing the Hungarian government and particular the […]

by · September 13, 2015 · Antisemitism
Hungarian volunteers associated with the group Migration Aid bring some much needed normalcy to the lives of refugee children in Budapest. Photo: Migration Aid.

Hungary’s NGOs call for more humane treatment of refugees

A few of my friends and colleagues – some of whom are non-Hungarian, but have lived in Hungary – have complained that the coverage of the refugee crisis paints this relatively small Central European country and Hungarian society as a whole in a decidedly negative light. As every major international news network descends upon Hungary, from the Keleti railway station […]

by · September 13, 2015 · Politics
Fence along the border between Hungary and Serbia. Photo: MTI.

Hungary’s fences and ladders

Hungary is spending billions of forints (millions of euros), using prisoners and soldiers, to build a 180 km (110 mile) long, 3-meter (10-foot) high fence along its border to protect the nation from the asylum-seekers that it is currently brutalizing. The fence is being constructed by 350 prisoners, who are being paid $117 per month each for their work. Ebay […]

by · September 12, 2015 · Politics
Hungarian mass emigration following 1956.

Letter to HFP: Hungary should choose a nobler path in refugee crisis

Dear Editor, In 1956, just after my sixth birthday, my father was asked by American Secretary of State Dulles and President Eisenhower to take over the State Department Refugee Relief Program to deal with the thousands of Hungarian refugees fleeing the Soviet invasion. For the next year, I seldom saw my father. Some nights he would appear on American television […]

by · September 11, 2015 · Diaspora
Ambassador Ódor and Hungary’s Contempt for Human Rights: Making Excuses Instead of Amends

Ambassador Ódor and Hungary’s Contempt for Human Rights: Making Excuses Instead of Amends

Hungary’s ambassador to Canada, Bálint Ódor,  sent letters to the editor to various Canadian news outlets, in which he attempted to whitewash the shockingly vicious actions of his xenophobic government against Syrian refugees and blamed the media and other EU member states for the crisis. Here is a response from Professor Stevan Harnad: The Ódor excuses are rank and all-too-familiar […]

by · September 9, 2015 · Politics
Source: Zsolt Szigetváry / MTI.

The Dictator’s Bog-Standard M.O.

It is by now patently obvious that the refugee “crisis” that Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has artificially and systematically created had 3 goals: (1) to divert attention from Orbán’s many mounting corruption scandals, (2) to re-assert and reinforce Orbán’s populistic self-image as the nation’s protector against the invasion of the Turks and the exploitation by the EU and (3) […]

by · September 7, 2015 · Politics
István Örkény in the late sixties, with his wife Zsuzsa Radnóti.

István Örkény: Professors before the bench

Twentieth century Hungarian author István Örkény (1912-1979) was known for his bitingly sharp social commentary. As a Hungarian Jew, he survived the Holocaust and served in one of Hungary’s forced labour units during World War II, only to be captured by the Russians in 1943. István Örkény spent over two years in a Soviet labour camp, before being allowed to […]

by · August 24, 2015 · Culture
Dr. András Göllner

András Göllner: Comparing Canada’s Harper to Orbán relativizes predatory rule in Hungary

Popular talk radio host György Bolgár of Hungary’s Klubrádió interviewed Professor András Göllner, founder of the Canadian Hungarian Democratic Charter (CHDC) on Wednesday. (Part 1 is available here, and Part 2 here.) The Montreal-based academic and civil liberties activist was asked to speak to an article appearing in the New York Times, in which Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is presented […]

by · August 19, 2015 · Politics
Canada Border Services Agency.

Canada Border Services responds to HFP: CBSA officers deployed at Budapest Airport

Following an incident that raised concerns surrounding possible discrimination at the Budapest Airport, on the part of Canadian officials who have been reportedly hindering Hungarian passport-holders from boarding Air Transat and SkyGreece flights to Montreal and Toronto, the Hungarian Free Press contacted the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) for comment. Spokesperson Wendy Atkins responded to the HFP’s questions below. Ms. […]

by · August 18, 2015 · East
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