Post Tagged with: "András Heisler"

Detail of a building in Fecske utca. Source: Új Kelet.

A Hundred Turbulent Years

Some three years ago I was visiting Prague and there, amongst the few remaining Jewish monuments was the relatively new, elegant Spanish Synagogue. Despite its elegance and attractive style, my interest was rather caught by the representative exhibition in the women’s gallery showing the ample contribution the Jews of Prague provided to Czech and European culture at large. It was […]

by · August 2, 2018 · Culture
Frans Timmerman and Queen Mathilde of Belgium

EU focus on Viktor Orbán’s anti-Semitism

While racism and anti-Semitism are not uncommon in European Union (EU) countries, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is the only one who brought anti-Semitism into a ruling party. Ruling party Fidesz politicians in Hungary frequently make anti-Semitic remarks in Hungarian, never in English. And the doubletalk has served Orbán well. His party has attracted a fair share of the country’s […]

by · May 9, 2017 · Antisemitism
The Orbán regime's largest and most expensive PR exercise in Canada to date.

Hungarian Government Uses Cultural Festival in Montreal to Conceal Civil Rights Abuses at Home

Hungary’s government, criticized internationally for trampling on the civil liberties of its citizens and for attacking artists and civic groups that dare to criticize it is staging its largest and most expensive public relations campaign in Canada since the restoration of diplomatic ties between the two countries in the sixties. The million dollar PR extravaganza kicked off at the end […]

by · September 2, 2016 · Politics
Simon Wiesenthal Center

Wiesenthal Center: Hungary’s chair of International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance “cynical act of political manipulation”

The Simon Wiesenthal Center issued a scathing statement on Hungary’s Orbán government, after the regime in Budapest decided to award rabidly racist columnist Zsolt Bayer, who has advocated for genocide against the Roma minority and has bemoaned that more Jews were not murdered in a pogrom in 1919/20, with a major national award. The Hungarian Free Press has long shared […]

by · August 24, 2016 · Antisemitism
Zsolt Bayer (left) receiving his award from János Lázár. Photo: MTI.

Hungarians return national awards to protest racist Zsolt Bayer’s medal

The Orbán government’s decision to award one of its own with a state medal–Fidesz founder and rabidly racist columnist Zsolt Bayer–has convinced a growing number of prominent Hungarians to return their state distinctions in protest. The message is clear and simple: if the singularly foul-mouthed Mr. Bayer can be recognized by the Orbán regime with the Hungarian Middle Cross–a publicist […]

by · August 22, 2016 · Politics
Viktor Orbán and his responsibility for rising antisemitism in Hungary

Viktor Orbán and his responsibility for rising antisemitism in Hungary

Quite a political storm is brewing in Hungary, after Ronald S. Lauder of the World Jewish Congress named Hungary Europe’s most anti-Semitic country. Specifically, Mr. Lauder said the following: “The worst offender is Hungary. Because they now have a neo-Nazi party called Jobbik. They had started to put up statues of Admiral Horthy, who was a Nazi.” András Heisler, President of the […]

by · July 19, 2016 · Antisemitism
Béla Biszku

Treating a war criminal at the Budapest Jewish Hospital

Béla Biszku, who died at age 94 last week, was Hungary’s most infamous unrepentant hard-line communist and the only official of the former pre-1989 regime ever prosecuted for crimes against humanity. Biszku served in the Hungarian Workers’ Party (Magyar Dolgozók Pártja) from 1949, as well as in its successor, the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party (Magyar Szocialista Munkáspárt – MSZMP), including […]

by · April 4, 2016 · Focus
Andrew Bennett, in the middle, with Ambassador Bálint Ódor and Csaba Latorcai to the left.

Hungary is “an especially welcoming country,” according to Vancouver Jewish community leaders

Csaba Latorcai, the Orbán government’s deputy state secretary in charge of religious groups, minorities and affairs relating to the Jewish community, just wrapped up what was likely a very successful trip to Canada. Hungary’s state news agency (MTI) published quite a gushing report of the unbridled successes of the week-long Canada-wide tour, where Mr. Latorcai was accompanied, for most of […]

by · December 3, 2015 · Antisemitism
Holocaust commemorations, public memory and antisemitism in Hungary: A video interview with András Heisler

Holocaust commemorations, public memory and antisemitism in Hungary: A video interview with András Heisler

HFP’s Hungarian-language sister publication, the Kanadai Magyar Hírlap, published a lengthy and–we think–insightful interview with András Heisler, the President of the Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities (Mazsihisz), during his official visit to Canada this week. Mr. Heisler was coming alongside Deputy State Secretary Csaba Latorcai and spent five days in Canada, meeting with various levels of federal government, including the […]

by · December 2, 2015 · Antisemitism
András Heisler, President of the Hungarian Federation of Jewish Communities (MAZSIHISZ) greets János Lázár, Minister of the Prime Minister's Office. Photo: Péter Gyula Horváth.

Hungary’s government warns Jewish community about Muslim refugees

Officials from Hungary’s Orbán government, including Minister of Human Resources Zoltán Balog, met with Jewish community leaders this week to discuss new efforts to improve Holocaust education in Hungarian schools and to alert Hungarian Jews to the fact that they too may be “impacted” by the continued wave of refugees, arriving primarily from war-torn Syria and Afghanistan. Based on the […]

by · August 13, 2015 · Politics