Recently in the spotlight

Margit Bokor – the tragic life of the Hungarian American soprano

Margit Bokor – the tragic life of the Hungarian American soprano

As part of our series on lesser known Hungarian Americans we introduce Margit Bokor the celebrated soprano of the Metropolitan and the New York City Operas. Margit Bokor was only 49 when she died of cancer in New York City. The singer was born as Margit Wahl in 1900 in Losonc, Hungarian Kingdom (today Lucenec, Slovakia) in a Catholic family.  […]

by · September 1, 2020 · Culture
Steve Bannon (far left) with Viktor Orbán (far right) in the Hungarian Parliament.

Steve Bannon – Orbán’s advisor and former White House chief strategist has been arrested

Steve Bannon has been arrested.  He and three associates were indicted in the U.S. Southern District of New York and charged with defrauding donors through a campaign called, We Build the Wall.  The group raised “more than $25 million to build a wall along the southern border of the United States” and it is suspected that hundreds of thousands of […]

by · August 23, 2020 · Politics
Hungary’s National Day — August 20, 2020

Hungary’s National Day — August 20, 2020

The Secretary of State of the United States issued a statement on the occasion of Hungary’s national holiday, August 20th, one remembered by Hungarians living in the diaspora as well. We are sharing the statement below with our readers.  MICHAEL R. POMPEO, SECRETARY OF STATE AUGUST 19, 2020 On behalf of the Government of the United States and the American […]

by · August 20, 2020 · Culture
Orbán refuses to condemn his friend, Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko

Orbán refuses to condemn his friend, Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko

Hungary’s corrupt “Viktatorship” is still stable at this moment, but you never know.  Political winds can shift on a dime in Budapest, just like they have in Minsk where 200,000 people demanded the resignation the country’s dictator, President Lukashenko. A couple of weeks ago Hungary’s strongman had a friendly visit with Lukashenko and Orbán called it an “honor” to be […]

by · August 17, 2020 · East
Mr. Zsolt Németh (left) and US Representative Andy Harris, Republican Co-Chair of the Hungarian-American Caucus in Congress

Hungary’s new foreign policy – US is a competitor

Mr. Zsolt Németh, a founder of Hungary’s Fidesz party and leader of the Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee has published an unusual English-language essay entitled, Hungarian foreign policy after Covid-19.   It appeared in the pro-government daily Magyar Nemzet and it seems that it is intended to be Hungary’s new foreign policy “manifesto.”  (Read Németh’s thesis in English here) In the past […]

by · August 11, 2020 · Politics
"Free Country - Free Press" Hungarian demonstration for press freedom in Budapest on July 24.

The collapse of Index – Orbán is dismantling independent media

Hungary’s authoritarian regime is showing its true intentions. The government has declared zero tolerance against independent media outlets voicing criticism of government policies. In 2016 Orbán engineered the shutdown Hungary’s largest broadsheet newspaper, Népszabadság. The official story was “declining sales” and the ruling Fidesz party beamed that the shutdown was “a rational economic decision.”  Népszabadság was not in immediate financial danger and got […]

by · July 27, 2020 · Focus
Ambassador Szemerkényi bids farewell to Sessions.

Jeff Sessions – a friend of the Hungarian government loses Alabama GOP Senate runoff

Seventy-three year-old former Attorney General and friend of the Orbán government, Jeff Sessions failed to reclaim his old Senate seat.  He lost to former Auburn University football coach, Tommy Tuberville in the Alabama GOP runoff.  It was a bitter defeat to Sessions a native Alabaman; Tuberville just recently moved to the state and will face incumbent Democrat Doug Jones in November. This was the first […]

by · July 21, 2020 · Politics
Cattle car used for transporting Hungarian Jews.

Auschwitz Transports from Hungary

Germany occupied its ally Hungary on March 19, 1944 and the Auschwitz transports soon commenced on a rapid schedule. On July 6, 1944, Hungary’s regent Miklós Horthy issued a decree stopping the deportations of Hungary’s Jewish citizens. He did not do this out of concern for the fate of Jews, but due to the dramatically deteriorating military situation for Germany […]

by · July 18, 2020 · Focus
Ambassador Réka Szemerkényi calls China a dictatorship

Ambassador Réka Szemerkényi calls China a dictatorship

PBS NewsHour is one of the most widely watched news program in the US.  In the July 8 program the host, Nick Schifrin asked – among others – Hungary’s ex-Ambassador to the US, Réka Szemerkényi about foreign perception of the US during the coronavirus pandemic. Here are Szemerkényi’s responses from the edited transcript.  We publish them without any further comment. […]

by · July 11, 2020 · Politics
György Kárpáti

György Kárpáti (1935-2020) – Holocaust survivor, Communist informer, Olympic champion

György Kárpáti the legendary water polo player was buried in Budapest at the Farkasréti Cemetery.  The elaborate ceremony was led by a prominent Catholic priest, Father Imre Kozma.  Leaders of the Orbán government lined up to pay their respects.   No doubt, he was an extraordinary man with an extraordinary life. He died at the age of 88 and his life […]

by · July 6, 2020 · Culture