Hungarian Nationalists Hold Rally in Former Synagogue, Despite Protests
Hungary’s far-right Jobbik Party held a political rally in a former synagogue, despite protests.
The rally by the party, whose ultra-nationalist platform is laced with anti-Semitism and anti-Roma policy, was held Saturday night in the former synagogue in the town of Esztergom, located 29 miles north of Budapest.
The building currently is operated by the local government as a cultural and meeting center.
Several hundred demonstrators protested the meeting. They stood outside the former synagogue during the Jobbik rally reading the names of the 500 Holocaust victims who were deported to Auschwitz from the town in 1944.
Jobbik party leader Gabor Vona told the demonstrators that “there is an atmosphere of hysteria due to the Holocaust Memorial Year in Hungary, which wants to make Hungarians feel guilty.”
Despite a heavy police presence at the rally, there were several incidents between Jobbik supporters and demonstrators.
Hungarian authorities had given official permission to the Jobbik Party to hold its rally in the synagogue, since the synagogue is now owned by the municipality and not by the Jewish community.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
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.