US Jewish leaders are outraged that Hungarian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Levente Magyar incorrectly claimed that they had described recent comments about antisemitism in Hungary as “exaggerated.” The remarks concerning antisemitism in Hungary were actually made by US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, who in a speech about global antisemitism referred to recent developments related to the […]
Slomó Köves is 37 years old and he claims to be a Rabbi. I’m not so sure. Recently he willingly joined Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s xenophobic Prime Minister while Orbán declared that no refugees can enter Hungary. “We don’t want them,” Mr. Orbán said, “We don’t want Muslim people in our country.” Mr. Orbán didn’t spare Hungarian taxpayer’s money when ordering […]
We are entering the final stretch of Hungary’s anti-migrant referendum, scheduled for October 2nd. A new poll by Republikon suggests that 48% of the electorate is certain to cast a ballot, while an additional 23% say that they will likely vote. These polling results suggest that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will get exactly what he is looking for: a massive […]
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 […]
As a continuation of the presentation of the work of the Living Memorial group in Budapest, Eszter Garai-Édler and Balázs Horváth provide insight behind more than two years of activism and almost four hundred public forum sessions. The interview was conducted by Katalin Szlukovényi. * K.S.: What were your personal motives for joining the Living Memorial? Eszter: I got involved […]
There are no conflict-free communities. But it is literally a question of life and death how communities address their common issues and whether they can learn from previous mistakes. Inescapably, this question came into the foreground two years ago, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Holocaust in Hungary, full of commemoration events all over the country. The […]
The premise of fledgling director Viktor Szűcs’s film sounds like the beginning of a classic joke, but this 33 minute production is actually a fantastic short documentary on how Hungarians of different faiths share a meal with other. It is also a tongue-in-cheek commentary on the popular Hungarian reality television show called Fish on the cake (Hal a tortán). For […]
Ronald Lauder, an American billionaire, prominent Republican politician, former ambassador to Austria and head of the World Jewish Congress, has Hungarian ancestry; his grandmother was born in Sátoraljaújhely. Recently, in an interview he named Hungary the most anti-Semitic country in Europe. (read here) . Lauder specifically mentioned the statues of Hitler-supporter Regent Miklós Horthy, a self-proclaimed anti-Semite who declared war on the United States. Horthy’s policies resulted in the death […]
Shame on you, Ilan Mor! The Israeli Ambassador to Hungary, Ilan Mor, accepted a Hungarian government award this week–An award which was renounced and returned by Elie Wiesel and Randolph Braham due to the whitewashing of Nazi history. “It has become increasingly clear that Hungarian authorities are encouraging the whitewashing of tragic and criminal episodes in Hungary’s past, namely the […]
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 […]
