HUNGARY 2005

 

Antisemitism in Hungary in 2005 was manifested mainly in extreme right publications and demonstrations. Jewish infiltration of the Hungarian nation and their undermining of Hungarian national interests is a principal theme in nationalist propaganda.

 

THE JEWISH COMMUNITY

The 80,000 Jews living in Hungary, out of a total population of 10.55 million, constitute the largest Jewish community in Eastern Europe outside the borders of the former Soviet Union. The great majority live in Budapest, but there are also communities in Miskolc and Debrecen, as well as in smaller cities.

The Federation of Jewish Communities (Mazsihisz) is the main body of Hungarian Jewry. Among other activities, it supports the publication of a yearbook, Antisemitic Discourse in Hungary, published in Hungarian and English by the B’nai B’rith Budapest Lodge. Several major philanthropic organizations are active in Hungary, especially the Lauder Foundation, whose summer camps attract youth from across Central and Eastern Europe. The Hungarian Jewish Cultural Association publishes a monthly, Szombat (Saturday), and conducts a wide variety of cultural and educational activities. The quarterly Mult es Jovo (Past and Present) publishes original and translated essays on a variety of topics. The content of the community’s bi-weekly Uj Elet (New Life) reflects a religious revival among some segments of the Jewish population.

 

POLITICAL PARTIES AND EXTRA-PARLIAMENTARY GROUPS

Political Parties

Since its loss in the May 2002 elections (and again in 2006), the former center-right FIDESZ, the main governing party before the elections, has transformed itself into a conservative bloc in an attempt to topple the Socialist-led coalition. The nationalist, xenophobic and antisemitic Hungarian Justice and Life Party (MIEP), led by Istvan Csurka, has had no parliamentary representation since 2002. Efforts to challenge Csurka’s leadership have continued. While intra-party rivalry might weaken the extremist camp, any faction of the party which claims to be the ‘true’ representative of the populist right has little chance of competing with Csurka’s reputation and oratorical skills, which have dominated the extremist camp in Hungary since 1992.

 

Extra-Parliamentary Groups

The number of neo-Nazis is small, but they are visible at public demonstrations on national days or anniversaries linked to World War II. The most notorious neo-Nazi group is the Hungarian Welfare Association, which has appeared under various guises and adheres openly to the legacy of the Hungarian fascist Arrow Cross movement, led during the war by Ferenc Szalasi. Small groups such as Blood & Honour organize demonstrations on anniversaries linked to World War II and the legacy of Hungarian fascism. Skinheads, whose numbers remain stable, have been less active on the streets and in the dissemination of propaganda. Nevertheless, this violent sub-culture with its neo-Nazi symbols continues to be a threat to public order.

In February, Hungarian police confronted groups of local neo-Nazis, especially from Blood & Honour, who were celebrating the anniversary of the 1945 attempt of Hungarian and Nazi troops to break out of Soviet-besieged Budapest. Following such displays of neo-Nazi power, the authorities promise to clamp down. However, the marches have become an annual display of neo-Nazism and Holocaust denial; as such, they are criticized by liberals and leftists in the Hungarian media.

The neo-Nazi organization Group for a Hungarian Future’s (Magyar Jovo Csoport) open endorsement of the legacy of the Arrow Cross and its leader Szalasi, serves to spotlight the re-emergence of similar groups, which attract dozens of sympathizers.

As in previous years, a small group of neo-Nazis tried to commemorate the 61st anniversary of the rise to power of the Nazi Arrow Cross party in Hungary in October 2005. The event was smaller than in 2004 when it received more media attention (see ASW 2004)

Extremist nationalist groups have intensified their use of the Internet in the past few years. Several websites, such as www.jobbik.net (a play on words, meaning ‘more to the right’ as well as ‘better’), disseminate xenophobic and antisemitic/anti-Israel views, often in vague terminology in order to avoid legal action. Such sites are monitored by www.antiszemitizmus.hu of the Jewish publication Szombat (see also below).

 

ANTISEMITIC AND RACIST ACTIVITIES

Antisemitism in Hungary in 2005 was manifested mainly in far right publications and demonstrations. MIEP supporters continued their tradition of shouting antisemitic and anti-American slogans at their annual rally in Budapest in March 2005 commemorating the 1848–49 revolution. Demonstrating against the US on this date is a historical irony, since the US was the only important state to support the Hungarian fight for independence in 1848−49, and the leader of the revolution, Lajos Kossuth, was received in the US as a hero and appeared before the US Congress in 1852.

Participants in the annual anniversary demonstrations of the nationalist right marking the 1956 uprising, in October, shouted antisemitic and anti-Israel slogans, such as accusing Israel of war crimes. The center-right traditionally distances itself from the right-wing rally, led in recent years by Csurka, and neither camp is represented at the official Socialist led celebrations.

Official Hungarian support for the US position in Iraq, though less enthusiastic than in the first year of the war, was criticized, among others, by Csurka, who provided regular analyses in his party’s weekly and monthly Magyar Forum, in an attempt to prove complete Hungarian servitude to foreign interests. Csurka reiterated that in Hungary everything was decided according to the interests of the Washington–Tel Aviv global war axis. Anti-Israel and anti-US slogans were usually a part of the anti-war demonstrations organized by the extreme right, which did not attract large numbers of participants.

Jewish infiltration of the Hungarian nation and their undermining of Hungarian national interests, a principal theme in nationalist propaganda, continued in the MIEP’s Magyar Forum, the right-wing Magyar Demokrata and on several websites, such as www.jobbik.net. On 25 November this website published a typical pseudo-historical essay portraying Hungary as one of the “most densely Jewish populated states in Europe,” having suffered an influx of ‘Galician Jews’ in the 19th century. Antisemites distinguish between the ‘Galician invasion’ − the newcomers − and ‘our’ Jews − the ‘old timers’ − who, although not much liked, are superior to the former who are uneducated and sinister (quoted in part at www.antiszemitizmus.hu).

On 13 December the site published a recycled version of one of “Csurka's urban legends” (www.antiszemitizmus.hu), based on an alleged meeting held in a suburban Budapest villa, on the eve of the collapse of the Hungarian Communist regime in early 1989, between a Soviet colonel, a representative of the US embassy, a representative of the Israeli secret service, representatives of the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish faiths, and several Hungarian (Communist) leaders, some of whom are still in power today. According to a secret agreement in the style of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, they called for a ban on anti-Jewish pronouncements, activities and organizations, as well as ultra-right-wing activity, and complete compensation for Hungarian Jewish ‘losses’ during World War II (note the reference to ‘losses’ as a euphemism for the Holocaust). The ‘agreement’ was supposedly renewed in 2003 and amended to include the need for complete “subordination of Hungary to the EU and to the global colonization plans of the US and Israel.”

As to the “total subordination of Hungary” to Jewish interests, Csurka’s movement continued to stress the Israeli-Jewish role in investment in Hungary, especially in new shopping malls, hotels and luxury apartment buildings. In December, Magyar Forum used the word ‘Judapest’, to describe Jewish attempts to judaize Budapest completely. According to antiszemitizmus.hu, the term ‘Judapest’ was lifted from a column in Szombat. ‘Judapest’, it claimed, was used ironically in the column in imitation of antisemitic publications.

Israeli economic penetration and its alleged takeover of Hungary is an obsession of Magyar Forum. In May, an article mentioning the alleged business interests of Israeli Ambassador David Admon, showed a map of the territory of historical Hungary in green, with an Israeli flag superimposed over it. According to the Magyar Forum website, in May, “Jewish-Soros [American Jewish businessman of Hungarian origin] capital is preparing Hungary for the arrival of masses of Russian Jews after the imminent collapse of the State of Israel,” in other words, a 21st century version of the ‘Galician invasion’.

The weekly Magyar Demokrata carries reviews of Western anti-Zionist and anti-Israel publications, as well as articles, especially by Sayfo Omar and Lovas Istvan. The latter is known for bringing court cases against anyone who accuses him of being an antisemite – perhaps due to his sensitivity about his alleged Jewish origins. On 11 May Sayfo Omar accused the Israelis of not only attempting to eliminate the Palestinian Muslim population but the Christians as well, perhaps in an attempt to elicit anti-Israel sympathies among members of the public who are not necessarily pro-Islamist.

Lovas Istvan warns against the “racist Israeli” policy of killing Palestinian children (6 Jan.): “the hands of stone-throwing Palestinian children should be kissed, lest they throw ‘dirty bombs’ causing the death of hundreds of thousands when they grow up.”

 

ATTITUDES TOWARD THE HOLOCAUST AND THE NAZI ERA and

RESPONSES TO RACISM AND ANTISEMITISM

The tone in 2005 marking the 61st anniversary of the Holocaust in Hungary was similar to that of 2004 (see ASW 2004), with the various memorial events stressing the ‘Hungarian tragedy’ (the crime carried out by the Hungarian people against their nation when they destroyed a community of fellow citizens, acknowledged in the 2004 ceremonies) in the destruction of Hungary's Jewry. The right-wing media was disturbed by these events; Magyar Demokrata published several items on the culture of memory in Hungary and elsewhere. On 24 March it complained of “holo-propaganda” − according to which Hollywood dealt less with Stalin's crimes lest this would “detract from the essential topic, the suffering of the Jews.”

On 24 February 2005 an article in Magyar Demokrata described what it termed the complete failure of the film Fateless, based on the novel by Imre Kertesz. The subtext of the review was that it was very unpleasant to be Hungarian and to be reminded repeatedly of one’s guilt.

Programs for educators continued with yearly seminars at Yad Vashem which updated them on the latest educational approaches and methods for dealing with the Holocaust, the Hungarian Jewish legacy, antisemitism and Holocaust denial. Similar programs were held in Hungary, and textbooks on these issues are updated regularly and included in the curriculum.

These topics are also treated in Hungarian academic publications. The fourth volume of Jewish Studies (published by Central European University − CEU), edited by two well known scholars, Andras Kovacs, and Michael Miller, came out in 2005. The work includes studies on the history of the Holocaust, such as Laszlo Karsai’s “Could the Jews of Hungary Have Survived the Holocaust – New Answers to an Old Question,” and Andrei S. Markovits’ “‘Twin Brothers’: European Antisemitism and Anti-Americanism.”