Recently in the spotlight

Ambassador Réka Szemerkényi (left) and Rep. Steve King in his Congressional Office

Rep. Steve King of Iowa, Viktor Orbán’s admirer in Congress loses primary

Steve King of Iowa, one of the most controversial members of Congress has lost his bid for re-nomination.  King, a nine-term Republican suffered one of the biggest defeats of the 2020 Republican primary season.  The defeat will most likely end his political career. 71-year-old King is openly racist.  He has befriended European far-right leaders, among them disgraced far-right Austrian politician, […]

by · June 14, 2020 · Politics
Invitation: The Forgotten Revolution — the 1919 Hungarian Republic of Councils

Invitation: The Forgotten Revolution — the 1919 Hungarian Republic of Councils

The Hungarian Free Press is excited and honoured to be a partner of a special live online discussion on a new book published by Montreal’s Black Rose Books, namely The Forgotten Revolution — the 1919 Hungarian Republic of Councils. The book’s editor is HFP contributor András Göllner. HFP’s founding editor, Christopher Adam, contributed a chapter to this volume. For more information […]

by · June 13, 2020 · Culture
US Ambassador Cornstein supports the right to demonstrate

US Ambassador Cornstein supports the right to demonstrate

Large crowd demonstrated against racism and police brutality in Liberty Square (Szabadság tér) in front of the US Embassy in Budapest on Sunday.  Participants declared support for the Black Lives Matter movement and pledged “to stand together in solidarity with all victims of racism globally, for justice and unity, for systemic radical positive change.” David Cornstein, US Ambassador to Budapest issued […]

by · June 9, 2020 · Politics
President Roosevelt on horseback

Roosevelt, Mikszáth and St. Peter’s Umbrella

This is a wonderful and true story.  Some of you might have heard it. After serving for eight years as US President Theodore Roosevelt opted not to run for a third term in 1908.  Two years later, he decided to take a trip to Europe and in April 1910 he visited Hungary. Roosevelt was especially interested in horse breeding and […]

by · June 6, 2020 · Culture
Far-right Trianon rally at the Romanian Embassy in Budapest.

Trianon commemoration has no place in North America

Many of us in North America are surprised (and dismayed) by the recent revival of Trianon symbolism in Budapest.  It is part of the Orbán Government’s attempt to re-establish Miklós Horthy’s far-right nationalism of the last century. Several events were planned in Budapest on June 4, the 100th anniversary of the Trianon Treaty. Due to the pandemic some have been […]

by · May 31, 2020 · Diaspora
Evelyn Farkas with Secretary Clinton at the Memorial Day Parade

Memorial Day message from Evelyn Farkas

I hope this message finds you safe and well on this Memorial Day. Memorial Day is a day of reflection and remembrance for those who have given their lives for our nation. Today, I think of those who fought to defend freedom across the generations, especially in World War II. On the frontlines across Europe and the Pacific, over 400,000 […]

by · May 25, 2020 · Diaspora
Hospital ventilator unit - total cost $30-40,000 per bed.

Coronavirus, incompetence and suspected fraud in authoritarian Hungary

Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s young minister of foreign affairs & trade is responsible for purchasing protective gear for his country’s fight against the coronavirus epidemic.  Szijjártó organized an air bridge to China and over 100 WizzAir flights brought back gear for the “battle,” as he calls it. According to government sources Hungary has so far received over 131 million masks, 1,928,695 protective […]

by · May 23, 2020 · Politics
Waiting for the opposition

Waiting for the opposition

In recent months, the air has become cleaner, the home office has operated, gardening has become a fashion, home cooking and slow food have regained its charm, and musicians have started composing hilarious Trianon songs. But Hungarian politics, like some dirty, smeared river, reached another chasm, its vortex accelerated. Viktor Orbán authorized the parliament to authorize Viktor Orbán with a […]

by · May 20, 2020 · Focus
You Rang, M’lord?

You Rang, M’lord?

“To fall with my corpse: it is the servant’s business.”  (Endre Ady) Who seriously thinks today that power and fairness are compatible? How many in our country share the saying attributed to Lincoln: „If you want to test a man’s character, give him power” What became of those who were given power in their hands? Regimes based on unlimited personalist […]

by · May 16, 2020 · Focus
President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky pays respect to the victims of fascism

Ukraine’s President sends message to Viktor Orbán on the Day of Victory over Nazism

In a speech on the Day of Victory over the Nazis, in the city of Uzhhorod (Ungvár in Hungarian) Ukraine’s young and photogenic president sent a not so subtle message to Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.   Volodymyr Zelensky talked about the “expulsion of invaders” from Zacarpathia, a clear reference to the illegal 1939 occupation of the area by Hungarian ruler […]

by · May 12, 2020 · Politics