(JTA) — In the 22 years he ran Hungary’s Mazsihisz Jewish umbrella organization, Gusztav Zoltai was called out for many things. Zoltai, a former secret police agent who led the Jewish federation until his retirement earlier this year, was accused of corruption and labeled a relic of dark times. Others took issue with his flirtatious…
The policies of Israel’s longest-serving prime minister are starting to bear an eerie resemblance to climate change: The critics all look like a bunch of whining scaremongers prophesying an implausibly apocalyptic ruination that’s sure to come in some fuzzily distant end-time. Even if it’s true, it’s too far away to worry about. That is, until…
Hungary’s far-right Jobbik party is on track to take over dozens of city halls in a municipal election on Sunday, handing it new powers that, critics say, it will use to persecute ethnic minorities. Already the second biggest force in parliament, Jobbik is one of Europe’s most influential far-right parties. Its rise has drawn international…
Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary ordered the banning of a right-wing extremist conference in Budapest. Orban on Sunday “instructed Minister of Interior Sandor Pinter to use every legal means at his disposal to prevent an extremist and racist conference from taking place” between Oct. 3 and 5, according to a statement posted Monday on…
Leaders of Jewish communities throughout Hungary met with representatives of the Hungarian government almost a year after the suspension of contacts between the sides. The more than four-hour discussion on Tuesday at the Hungarian Parliament building centered on eight topics of importance to the Jewish community, according to Janos Lazar, the chief negotiator representing the…
To my knowledge, there seem to be only two Hungarian films that address the plight of the country’s Jews during the Holocaust. One is the 1983 gem “Revolt of Job.” Now, there’s the puzzling macabre “The Notebook” (“Le Grand Cahier”) which hints at Hungarian Jews’— one scene shows the Jewish population of a small rural town…
I was never much of a fairy-tales kid. Or a fan of anything that was slightly gorier than Maisy books. I had to leave the movie theater halfway through “Babe” (because the farmer points a gun at Babe, the pig), “Ronia, the Robber’s Daughter” (because one character shows up with a cut on his forehead…
Hungary’s newly appointed ambassador to Italy, who has been described as a far-right activist and anti-Semite, withdrew from the position. Peter Szentmihalyi Szabo told Hungary’s foreign ministry Friday that he “does not wish to fill any ambassadorial position,” according to the Hungarian news agency MTI. The World Jewish Congress and the Anti-Defamation League had urged…
100% of profits support our journalism
