Post Tagged with: "Jewish Community"

Gábor Vona (right) appearing with journalist Antónia Mészáros on ATV.

Gábor Vona’s interview on ATV: I am willing to apologize for Jobbik’s unacceptable statements

For years, as a matter of principle, Hungary’s left-leaning ATV news network didn’t allow the far-right Jobbik’s politicians into its studios. All of that changed just over a year ago and now party chairman Gábor Vona and other prominent Jobbik politicians are regular guests. Fortunately, most of ATV’s hosts are skilled, shrewd journalists and they are able to scratch below Jobbik’s new, “improved” and […]

by · May 4, 2015 · Politics
Alternative Holocaust memorial in Freedom Square. Photo: Christopher Adam.

Remembering the dead in Hungary: An example of civic engagement

It’s impossible to detach public history and collective memory from contemporary politics. How a society portrays the past is determined by current realities, contemporary values or interests, as well as the dominant, “preferred” narratives of history. But the government and public institutions don’t have a monopoly over the past ; where civic engagement is strong, grassroots organizations and local activists […]

by · April 6, 2015 · Focus
An example of a defaced Holocaust monument in Hungary, with graffiti from 2013. Photo: atv.hu

Half of Budapest residents are anti-Semites? The dramatic spread of Hungarian antisemitism

Medián, one of Hungary’s top polling firms, published the results of a comprehensive and startling study into the scope and nature of antisemitism in Hungary. The poll shows a significant rise in antisemitism, with the number of Hungarians who are seen as “rejecting” Jews on a purely “emotional” level increasing from 9% in 2003 to 23% in 2014. It should […]

by · April 1, 2015 · Antisemitism
Éva Voisin

The Orbán government denies Hungary’s WWII collaboration with the Nazis

On October 28 six diplomats based in San Francisco gathered at Congregation Emanu-El to discuss the growing anti-Semitism in Europe. “The New Anti-Semitism in Europe” panel attracted close to 200 people at the synagogue, a surprisingly high number, considering that Game 6 of the World Series was playing on a television in a nearby room. European and especially Hungarian anti-Semitism […]

by · January 7, 2015 · Focus
The Wandering Muse / Tamás Wormser

Hungarian-Canadian filmmaker explores what it means to be Jewish

Tamás Wormser, a Montreal-based filmmaker of Hungarian origin, was featured in the Montreal Gazette today, in a piece written by columnist Bill Brownstein. Mr. Wormser, well-known for his “road doc” style documentaries, is having his film, The Wandering Muse, featured this Sunday at the Montreal International Documentary Festival (Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal). The fifty year old director, who moved to […]

by · November 21, 2014 · Culture
Chancellor Minister Mr. János Lázár (left) inaugurated the statue of fascist WWII criminal Albert Wass in Hódmezővásárhely.

Hungary’s Jews shouldn’t trust Orbán

The Hungarian Government is reaching out to the county’s Jewish community. Mr. János Lázár, Chancellor Minister and a trusted confidant of Prime Minister Orbán, recently wrote a letter to the Alliance of Jewish Communities (Mazsihisz) in an attempt to restore cooperation on the government’s Holocaust Memorial Year, a series of events planned to mark the 70th anniversary of Jewish deportations. […]

by · September 1, 2014 · Antisemitism
Ferenc Falus on the cover of Heti Válasz.

Right-wing weekly probes mayoral candidate’s Jewish “connection”

Coded antisemitism is a familiar phenomenon on the “moderate” Hungarian right (provided that there is still such a thing as moderate, centre-right Hungarian politics). While Jobbik and those to the right of Fidesz-KDNP are open in their antisemitic diatribes, the pro-Fidesz press simply aims to insinuate that the Hungarian left – en masse – is somehow beholden to Jewish interests. The […]

by · August 21, 2014 · Antisemitism

Hungarian democracy in a nutshell — The Jewish contribution to the European integration project

I am speaking about democracy in a nutshell today, because pretty well that’s all is left of Hungarian democracy by today. In fact, it is even quite loose in that nutshell, after having shrunk so small. On December 31 2013, in the late night hours, as the country was well on its way to get drunk and celebrate the new year, […]

by · August 3, 2014 · Focus