Award-Winning Hungarian Jewish Writer Gets Political Asylum in Canada
Akos Kertesz, an award-winning Hungarian Jewish writer, was granted political asylum in Canada.
Kertesz, 80, who fled last year to Canada from Hungary, was given refugee status even though Ottawa in a move that stirred controversy a year ago placed Hungary on a list of “safe countries.” The author said he was the victim of a state-led “hate campaign,” the Canadian Jewish News reported.
He arrived in Montreal claiming his life in Hungary had become intolerable because of his outspokenness abroad about Hungarians’ role in the Holocaust and his denunciation of the country’s right-wing government.
In August 2011, Kertesz, the author of some 20 books and winner of Hungary’s most prestigious literary prize, wrote an open letter in a U.S. Hungarian periodical slamming his countrymen for not owning up to their record during World War II and for supporting the “dictatorial” Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
The article caused a firestorm in Hungary. Kertesz said he became the object of a “witch hunt” and feared for his life after being physically assaulted on the street, harassed and threatened. Much of the invective against him was anti-Semitic.
Kertesz said he “was forced [to flee] because of the current Hungarian government,” the CJN reported. “I hope that one day I will be able to return to a democratic, tolerant, humane Hungary.”
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
